1 johdanto

THE WAY TO ORGANIZATIONAL LONGEVITY
- Balancing stability and change in Shinise firms
Innan Sasaki
Sarja/Series A-11:2015
Turun kauppakorkeakoulu
Turku School of Economics
Custos:
Professor Niina Nummela
Turku School of Economics
Supervisors:
Professor Niina Nummela
Turku School of Economics
Docent Peter Zettinig
Turku School of Economics
Pre-examiners:
Professor Kiyohiko Ito
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Professor Vesa Puhakka
University of Oulu
Opponent:
Professor Kiyohiko Ito
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Copyright Innan Sasaki & Turku School of Economics
The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku
quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service.
ISBN 978-952-249-450-4 (print) 978-952-249-451-1 (PDF)
ISSN 0357-4652 (print) 1459-4870 (PDF)
Publications of Turku School of Economics, Series A
Suomen yliopistopaino Oy – Juvenes Print, Turku 2015
3
ABSTRACT
THE WAY TO ORGANIZATIONAL LONGEVITY – Balancing stability
and change in Shinise firms
The overall purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the secret of longevity in
Shinise firms. On the basic assumption that organizational longevity is about
balancing stability and change, the theoretical perspectives incorporate routine
practice, organizational culture, and organizational identity. These theories
explain stability and change in an organization separately and in combination.
Qualitative inductive theory building was used in the study. Overall, the
empirical data comprised 75 in-depth and semi-structured interviews, 137
archival materials, and observations made over 17 weeks. According to the
empirical findings, longevity in Shinise firms is attributable to the internal
mechanisms (Shinise tenacity, stability in motion, and emergent change) to
secure a balance between stability and change, the continuing stability of the
socio-cultural environment in the local community, and active interaction
between organizational and local cultures. The contribution of the study to the
literature on organizational longevity and the alternative theoretical approaches is
first, in theorizing the mechanisms of Shinise tenacity and cross-level cultural
dynamism, and second, in pointing out the critical role of: the way firms set their
ultimate goal, the dynamism in culture, and the effect of history of the firm to the
current business in securing longevity.
KEY WORDS
Change; Culture; Organizational identity; Organizational longevity; Routines;
Shinise firms; Stability; Qualitative research
5
TIIVISTELMÄ
TIE ORGANISAATION PITKÄIKÄISYYTEEN
muutoksen tasapainottelu shinise-yrityksissä
–
vakauden
ja
Tämän väitöskirjan tarkoituksena on tutkia shinise-yritysten pitkäikäisyyden
salaisuutta. Väitöskirjan lähtökohtana on, että organisatorinen pitkäikäisyys
perustuu vakauden ja muutoksen tasapainotteluun. Näin ollen väitöskirja pohjaa
rutiinit käytäntöinä-, organisaatiokulttuurin ja organisaatioidentiteetin teorioihin,
jotka selittävät niin yhdessä kuin erikseen vakautta ja muutosta organisaatioissa.
Menetelmällisesti tutkimuksen lähtökohtana on laadullinen induktiivinen teorian
rakentaminen. Empiirinen aineisto koostuu 75 puolistrukturoidusta tai syvähaastattelusta, 137 arkistodokumentista, sekä havainnoinnista 17 viikon ajanjaksolta.
Empiiristen tulosten perusteella shinise-yritysten pitkäikäisyys pohjautuu kolmeen eri elementtiin: (1) yritysten sisäisiin mekanismeihin (shinise-sinnikkyys,
vakaus liikkeessä ja muotoutuva muutos) vakauden ja muutoksen tasapainon
turvaamiseksi; (2) paikallisen yhteisön sosio-kulttuurisen ympäristön jatkuvaan
vakauteen; sekä (3) yrityskulttuurin ja paikallisen kulttuurin aktiiviseen vuorovaikutukseen. Väitöskirja kontribuoi organisaation pitkäikäisyyttä käsittelevään
kirjallisuuteen sekä vaihtoehtoisiin teoreettisiin lähestymistapoihin kahdella
tavalla: Yhtäältä, se teorisoi shinise-sinnikkyyden sekä kulttuuritasot ylittävän
dynamiikan mekanismeja. Toisaalta, se osoittaa miten kriittinen rooli liiketoiminnan pitkäikäisyyteen on (1) yritysten tavoitteiden asettamistavalla, (2) kulttuurin
dynamiikalla ja (3) yrityksen historian vaikutuksella sen nykyiseen liiketoimintaan.
AVAINSANAT
Muutos; Organisaatioidentiteetti; Organisaation pitkäikäisyys; Rutiinit; Shiniseyritykset; Vakaus; Laadullinen tutkimus
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to dedicate this humble piece of work to all the great people that I
have met directly and indirectly in my life, the surrounding environment, and all
creation that have protected and embraced me. Please consider it your
accomplishment.
Born into a mixed-marriage family with a Japanese father and a Finnish
mother, and raised in both Finland and Japan, from a young age I have
experienced my international background as both a burden and an advantage. In
whichever country I lived I never fully belonged in the group of natives.
However, because I was always different from others, being half foreign, I
learned to understand, love and embrace both Eastern and Western cultures. Ever
since I was young my broad dream has been to build bridges between the East
and the West, and to help make the world a better place. To that end I
consciously started to study hard when I entered junior high school in Japan. My
results in the high school entrance exam allowed me into Uozu high school, one
of the best in the province. I would like to thank the teachers at the school,
especially Ms. Tomoko Kasahara who accepted me, believed in me and raised
me. Your wisdom gave me a basis on which to build my life.
After graduating from high school in Japan I moved to Turku, Finland. The
first thing I did was to contact the studies particularly geared to young
immigrants at the Turku Vocational Institute. I would like to sincerely thank Ms.
Pirkko Hellström who believed in me and did her very best to get me into Turku
University of Applied Sciences. There I met another teacher, Ms. Leena HämöläGlorioso, who guided me through to the next stage. She strongly believed in me,
and advised me to continue my studies in the Master’s degree program of Global
Innovation Management at Turku School of Economics, University of Turku.
Then I met Dr. Peter Zettinig and Dr. Birgitta Sandberg, who again believed in
my potential and advised me to start doctoral studies. When I moved to Finland
at the age of 18 I never dreamed I would be graduating with a PhD nine years
later. However, looking back I realize that whenever I did my best at each stage
of my life, there were always wonderful people who stopped, realized that I
existed, and guided me. I am deeply grateful to all the people I mention here, and
all the friends who supported me in each stage of my life.
Both Dr. Peter Zettinig and Dr. Birgitta Sandberg continued being my guides,
teachers, co-authors, and guardians. Thank you, Peter, for always making time
for me as my second supervisor, encouraging and guiding me with your big heart
8
and wisdom. I still remember the big smile on the face of my first supervisor,
Professor Niina Nummela, the day I started my doctoral studies. From then until
this day she has believed in me, educated me and guided me. She always
provided the guidance and resources that I needed to accomplish my research.
She always cared about educating me to become a good researcher, and about my
future. She is always happy, positive, honest, fair and warm. I truly respect her
both professionally and personally. She is my source of inspiration and role
model.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Kiyohiko Ito and
Professor Vesa Puhakka, who agreed to be the pre-examiners of my dissertation.
I am also grateful to the wonderful people I have met throughout the world at
conferences. First, I would like to thank Professor Kiyokiho Ito for his deep
interest in my work, his kindness and guidance. I am also grateful to Professor
Elizabeth Rose, Professor Geoffrey Jones, Professor Harry Barkema, Professor
Richard M. Steers, Professor Jari Olaja, Professor Marianna Sigala, and
Professor Nicole Coviello for their special guidance and solicitude, and to all the
other senior researchers and friends I met at international conferences and
research workshops.
I am very grateful to my co-authors, Katsuhiko Yoshikawa, M.Sc., Dr.
Hidekazu Sone, and Dr. Guillermo Bermudéz for the very pleasant cooperation. I
was able to learn a lot from them both on a personal and a professional level. I
would especially like to thank Dr. Guillermo Bermudéz for his hospitality and
support during my stay at the University of Málaga, Spain.
I would like to mention my friends and co-workers at the University of Turku,
Department of Marketing and International Business. They helped me through
the difficult times and we also had fun together. My thanks go to Anna Karhu,
M.Sc. in particular, who was at my side throughout the four years of doctoral
studies, and with whom I developed a deep friendship and co-authorship. Thank
you Ms. Elise Henriksson, who constantly gave me inspiration, Dr. Elina Pelto
for your kindness and guidance as a senior, Ms. Auli Rahkala-Toivonen, Sanna
Kuusjärvi, M.Sc. and Joan Nordlund, M.A. for your kindness and practical
support, Mekhail Mustak, M.Sc., Dr. Joni Salminen, M.Sc. Meri Malmari, Mari
Ketolainen, M.Sc., Dr. Taina Eriksson, Dr. Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki,
Marion Bitsch, M.Sc., William Degbey, M.Sc., Dr. Maria Elo, Dr. Valtteri
Kaatermo, Eini Laaksonen, M.Sc., Dr. Salla Laasonen, and Jonathan Mumford,
M.Sc., Katja Einola, M.Sc., Riikka Harikkala, M.Sc., and Chau Nguyen Pham
Minh, M.Sc. for your friendship.
I am deeply grateful to all the companies and institutions in Japan and
Belgium that kindly helped me with my research. I would like to thank my local
fiends Ms. Yoko Tanaka and Ms. Nele Vandevenne who supported me with the
data collection.
9
Many foundations have financially supported my research. I would like to
express my gratitude to the following: The Foundation for Economic Education,
the Jenny and Antti Wihurin Foundation, The Marcus Wallenberg Foundation,
the University of Turku Foundation, the Finnish Graduate School for
International Business (FIGSIB), and the Turku School of Economics Support
Foundation.
Finally, I thank my family. I am grateful to the wonderful parents who
educated me, and always encouraged me to have big dreams and to work for
others. I can always rely on and return to them. I appreciate all the spiritual and
concrete support they gave me. I thank my husband, who has always supported
and loved me. He is the best husband I could have. He is handsome, intelligent
and has a very humble and pure heart. He is truly my prince. I am also blessed
with two beautiful daughters, Yuki Lily and Yuna Rose. They were my source of
inspiration and happiness when I faced difficult situations during the past few
years. Thank you to my sister Inmi and my brother Jon, and my brother-in-law
Sunil: I truly love them. I would also like to thank my dear grandmother, AnneMaj Hyvönen, who always supported my studies. I am also grateful to my friends
and relatives who have supported me directly and indirectly during the past four
years in accomplishing this dissertation.
I have never studied for myself, but for others, thinking how my efforts could
someday bear fruit and help to make the world a better place. I hope this piece of
work, my dissertation, will serve as the first step in achieving this bigger goal in
my life. This is the end of one stage, and the beginning of the next one, which is
filled with hope. Throughout my life I will do my best to return the blessings
heaped upon me by the people I have met directly and indirectly, the surrounding
environment, and the creative forces that have protected and embraced me.
Please accept this humble piece of work as your accomplishment.
Turku, 7 August 2015
Innan Sasaki
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1 INTRODUCTION
1
2
3
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 17
1.1 The phenomenon – organizational longevity ...................................... 17
1.2 Defining a Shinise firm ....................................................................... 18
1.3 Current scholarly assumptions and their problematization ................. 20
1.3.1 Reasons for studying business longevity ................................. 21
1.3.2 Ways of studying business longevity....................................... 24
1.4 The purpose of the study ..................................................................... 28
1.5 The structure of the thesis ................................................................... 30
THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
LONGEVITY ............................................................................................... 33
2.1 Longevity as a balancing act between stability and change ................ 33
2.1.1 Organizational stability defined ............................................... 33
2.1.2 Organizational change defined ................................................ 34
2.1.3 Balancing organizational stability and change and
longevity of a firm ................................................................... 35
2.2 Alternative theoretical lenses .............................................................. 38
2.2.1 The basic assumptions of the alternative theoretical
lenses and their compatibility .................................................. 39
2.2.2 Routine practice theory ............................................................ 43
2.2.3 Theories on culture in firms ..................................................... 46
2.2.4 Organizational identity............................................................. 49
2.3 Synthesis .............................................................................................. 52
2.3.1 Similarities in the theories ....................................................... 52
2.3.2 Differences and inter-relationships across theories ................. 54
2.3.3 Opportunities and challenges in the synergistic use of
the three theoretical lenses to enhance understanding of
organizational longevity........................................................... 56
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................. 59
3.1 Research approach ............................................................................... 59
3.2 Research process ................................................................................. 60
3.2.1 Conceptual research process .................................................... 60
3.2.2 An overview of the data-collection process ............................. 61
12
4
3.2.3 Phase 1 ..................................................................................... 63
3.2.4 Phase 2 ..................................................................................... 64
3.2.5 Phase 3 ..................................................................................... 65
3.3 Data analysis ....................................................................................... 69
3.3.1 Inductive theory building (Article 1)....................................... 69
3.3.2 Historical analysis (Article 2).................................................. 69
3.3.3 The social-constructivist approach in multiple case studies
(Article 3) ................................................................................ 70
3.4 Evaluation of the study ....................................................................... 71
THE EMPIRICAL FINDINGS ................................................................... 75
5
4.1 The findings reported in the three articles .......................................... 75
4.1.1 Article 1 (Sasaki et al. 2015) ................................................... 75
4.1.2 Article 2 (Sasaki & Sone 2015) ............................................... 77
4.1.3 Article 3 (Sasaki 2015) ............................................................ 78
4.2 Confirmation and validation of the empirical findings....................... 79
4.2.1 Similarities and differences across industries ......................... 79
4.2.2 Similarities and differences across local regions .................... 83
4.3 Synthesis of the empirical findings..................................................... 85
CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................... 89
5.1 Theoretical contribution of the study .................................................. 89
5.1.1 Support and extension with regard to current theories ............ 89
5.1.2 New insights into current theories ........................................... 91
5.2 Managerial implications ..................................................................... 93
5.3 Limitations and boundary conditions ................................................. 95
5.4 Suggestions for future research........................................................... 97
5.4.1 Future research suggestions on organizational longevity
from a theoretical perspective ................................................. 97
5.4.2 Future research suggestions on organizational longevity
from contextual and methodological perspectives ................ 101
REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 103
APPENDECES ................................................................................................... 119
APPENDIX 1.
APPENDIX 2.
APPENDIX 3.
ARTICLE 1: Final semi-structured interview guide
with the president of the firm. ................................................ 119
ARTICLES 2 AND 3: Semi-structured interview guide
with the managers of the case firms....................................... 120
INTRODUCTION PART: Semi-structured interview
guide with the managers of the case firms from Belgium. .... 121
13
PART 2 ARTICLES
Article 1. Sasaki, I – Zettinig, P. – Sandberg, B. (2015) Who wants to live
forever? Rethinking organizational stability and change in a ‘Shinise’
company. Manuscript submitted to Academy of Management Journal,
now on 5th revision round. ................................................................................. 125
Article 2. Sasaki, I – Sone, H. (2015) Cultural Approach to Understanding
the Long-Term Survival of Firms - Japanese Shinise Firms in the Sake
Brewing Industry. Business History, Ahead-of-print, 1–17 ............................... 127
Article 3. Sasaki, I (2015): How does the micro-process of cultural change
happen in a cross-level context? Japanese Shinise firms in their local
communities. Conference proceedings from the conference of the European
Group of Organization Studies (EGOS), July 2–4, 2015, Athens, Greece......... 129
14
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1
Figure 2
Contextual setting of the study ....................................................... 63
What we know and what we don’t know in and between the
three streams of literature ............................................................... 98
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
Table 6
Table 7
Views of representatives of Kyoto on defining a Shinise firm ...... 19
Purpose of the firm in classical theories of the firm ...................... 22
Earlier research works on Shinise firm’s longevity with
insights to balancing stability and change ...................................... 27
Basic assumptions of routine practice theory, culture theories
of the firm and organizational identity. .......................................... 42
Summary of data collection ............................................................ 62
Summary of cases from Brugge ..................................................... 67
Summary of data from the local community of Brugge ................. 68
15
PART 1 INTRODUCTION
17
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 The phenomenon – organizational longevity
According to more recent Western and Japanese literature, the average life
expectancy of firms is decreasing. In the case of a Fortune 500 firm, for
example, it is estimated at between 40 and 50 years (De Geus 1997), and
Schrör (2009) reported that only approximately half of newly established
European companies survived for more than five years. Similarly in Japan, a
company’s life cycle has been estimated to span approximately 30 years, or in
today’s fast-changing business environment, only five years (Yokozawa
2000). Moreover, only one third of family-owned businesses, which tend to
resist environmental change more strongly, are expected to survive to the
second generation (Ward 2004), the life span shrinking with each successive
generation (Jivraj & Woods 2002). Nevertheless, certain companies in a
number of countries survive for decades or even centuries. France, for
example, has an association called Les Hénokiens for financially sound
companies with more than 200 years of history. In Japan there is a group of
firms known as Shinise (established and long-standing companies).
It is said that Japan has more than 50,000 Shinise companies with lifespans
exceeding 100 years, among which more than 3,000 have existed for longer
than 200 years (Teikoku Data Bank 2009, 2014; Tokyo Shoukou Research
2009). Thirty-two of these firms are more than 500 years old, and eight have
survived for more than 1,000 years. Although firms with Shinise features are
common in some European countries, they are not easily found in other Asian
contexts. According to the Teikoku Data Bank (2009, 2014), there are about
1,500 companies in Germany with more than 200 years of history, and about
300 in France and in Great Britain. According to a preliminary investigation
via the ORBIS database, countries such as France (0. 62% of the total number
of firms in the country are Shinise firms), Switzerland (0. 52%), Germany (0.
45%), Netherlands (0. 38%), Ireland (0. 32%), United Kingdom (0. 13%) and
Belgium (0. 11%) have relatively many companies with over 100 years of
history (in 2011). Thus, the Shinise phenomenon would seem to apply
specifically to Japanese and European companies.
How did these firms achieve their extraordinary longevity? This dissertation
is a phenomenon-driven study, inspired by this empirical question. The
starting point was an encounter with, interest in and investigation into the
18
Shinise phenomenon in Japan. Previous research in various disciplines has
sought to enhance understanding of and to explain why some firms survive
and others fail. However, to date no consensual explanation has been found
(Napolitano, Marino & Ojala 2015). Moreover, despite the large number of
extraordinarily long-living firms in Japan, relatively few Western scholars or
managers are aware of the existence of Shinise firms. It was for this reason
that unlocking the secret of longevity in these firms became the broad research
topic of my dissertation. In addition, inspired by cross-cultural studies and the
fact that Europe has the second-highest number of Shinise firms, I decided that
comparing these firms in Japan and Europe would be my secondary research
interest.
1.2 Defining a Shinise firm
‘Shinise’ literally means an old shop in Japanese. There are varying views in
the Japanese literature on how to define a Shinise firm. The loosest definition
adopts one criterion: ‘a firm that has survived for more than 100 years’
(Iwasaki & Kanda 1996; Teikoku Data Bank 2009; Yokozawa 2000). Other
authors claim that it is not only the number of years of survival that determine
business longevity, and that continuity in product lines (Hiramatsu 2004;
Nagasawa & Someya 2009) and ownership (Hiramatsu 2004; Nagasawa &
Someya 2009) are critical elements. Thus, different authors adopt looser or
stricter definitions.
This study is phenomenon-driven, and in terms of methodology represents
inductive theory building. Hence, the extant literature should be enriched by
the empirical phenomenon (Pratt, Rockmann & Kaufmann 2006). Kyoto is
said to be the Japanese city with the highest proportion of Shinise firms
(Teikoku Data Bank 2009), so the business people and local governmental
officials have their own view of what such a firm is. I therefore decided to
seek the views of business and local-government representatives in Kyoto as
valuable input in the discussion aimed at defining a Shinise firm. The
following table summarizes what these representatives said. It is clear from the
quotations that, as in the case of academics, practitioners and localgovernment officials have varying views, ranging from loose to more strict
definitions.
19
Table 1
How the Kyoto informants would define a Shinise firm
Informant in
Kyoto
Representative
of Kyoto
Prefectural
Government
Basic
standpoint
Loose
definition
Vice president
of firm F
Strict
definition,
emphasis on
continuation
of the
business
line
CEO of Firm D Strict
definition,
emphasis on
continuation
of the
family
business
Quoted extract
“[…] Hence, considering these historical
events [facing two wars in the past 100
years], we define Shinise firms as the ones
that have survived more than 100 years.
Moreover, even if the field of business has
changed, we consider them Shinise. It is
because tradition cannot be created without
innovation. Firms that just repeat the past
are not considered Shinise. […]”
“I think the point is whether the essence is
continuing. There are different levels in
changing the field of the business. I think if
the product has been changing gradually, for
instance from a coffee shop to a restaurant, I
think there is a certain kind of continuation,
but if the field is totally different, I don’t
think it can be called Shinise anymore.”
“In Kyoto, the emphasis is more on culture
than on the economy. This is the basic way of
thinking of a family business. […] The
general purpose of a business is to make
profit and contribute to the society. However,
the purpose of a family business is to
continue and contribute to society. […]
Without such mentality of a family business,
it is impossible to be in a traditional sector.”
Given this inconsistency in the Japanese literature and among practitioners
in how to define a Shinise firm, I decided to adopt a strict view with the
intention to explore the reasons behind the longevity and continuity in these
firms from as multifaceted a perspective as possible, based on path
dependency. Thus, adopting a strict definition gave me access to many paths
along which to investigate the historical continuity, compared to a loose
definition based solely on years of survival. Consequently, I define a Shinise
firm as ‘a company that has survived for more than a century, preserving the
main field of business, and not selling ownership of the company to outsiders.’
I define and operationalize organizational longevity in this dissertation
according to the above definition. Moreover, in line with this strict definition,
I distinguish organizational survival from organizational longevity: the
concept of longevity is broader and incorporates (years of) survival and other
elements of continuity.
20
As a consequence of taking the strict approach, my case firms turned out to
be small and medium-sized organizations with continuing family ownership.
According to my findings, Shinise firms in general tend to be SMEs on
account of the family ownership and the corporate philosophy that restricts
excess expansion of the business. However, the detailed relationship between
a firm’s growth and its longevity is not the focus of my study. Ito and Rose
(2014) and Ito, Rose and Westney (2014) carried out such a study,
concentrating on firms that had been under the same family ownership for
more than 500 years. They define such firms as millennium firms. They
compare the operational principles of these millennium companies with those
of diversified multinational companies (DMNCs), and develop a model that
incorporates the notions of space (product and international diversification)
and time (temporal longevity) into the theory of the firm.
Finally, I should emphasize that business longevity is a relative term
(Napolitano et al. 2015). In the Japanese context 100 years is considered a
clean line to draw in defining a Shinise firm given that firms with 100 years of
history have experienced enough tribulation (such as two World Wars).
However, 100 years might not suffice to consider a firm a long-term survivor
in countries that have not experienced extensive environmental turbulence.
One hundred years could be considered a fine line in my study, in which the
intention is to compare Japanese and European Shinise firms, because both
parties have experienced two World Wars. In this sense, the definition of a
Shinise firm I adopt could be considered a contextualized definition, which
describes the phenomenon well in a Japanese and a European context, but
might not be applicable elsewhere. Therefore, researchers conducting research
outside Japan and Europe might need to re-consider what business longevity
means in their contexts.
1.3 Current scholarly assumptions and their problematization
In the above sections I have explained and defined the phenomenon of interest
– in other words what my study concerns. I will now deepen the discussion by
identifying two stages in the problematization of current scholarly
assumptions. According to Alvesson and Sandberg (2011), in order for a new
theory to attract attention it is not enough for researchers to identify gaps in
the literature; they also need to challenge the assumptions of existing theories
in a significant way. The role of problematization is “to come up with novel
research questions through a dialectical interrogation of one’s own familiar
position, other stances, and the domain of literature targeted for assumption
challenging.” (Alvesson & Sandberg 2011, 252) There are different types and
21
levels of underlying theoretical assumptions, ranging from in-house
assumptions, root metaphors and paradigms to ideological and field
assumptions, depending on the depth (Alvesson & Sandberg 2011).
In the first stage, I will consider the field assumption. Field assumptions are
“a broader set of assumptions about a specific subject matter that are shared by
several different schools of thought within a paradigm, and sometimes even
across paradigms and disciplines (Alvesson & Sandberg 2011, 254)”. I discuss
the current state with regard to theories of the firm and its purposes, and
propose an alternative assumption that the purpose of firms is to achieve
longevity. In other words, I explain why it is worth studying organizational
longevity. In the second stage of the problematization process I turn to a minor
form of assumption, in-house assumption, defined as “a set of ideas held by a
theoretical school about a specific subject matter (Alvesson & Sandberg 2011,
254).” I discuss the current state of theoretical approaches and assumptions in
studies of Shinise firms, identify the problems, and propose alternative
approaches. In other words I explain how organizational longevity could be
studied.
1.3.1 Reasons for studying business longevity
One might ask: Why should companies survive? Why is organizational
longevity more important than (short-term) profit making? These questions
are related to the fundamental assumptions regarding the purpose or the
existence of the firm. Three basic institutions in today’s modern economic
system are the market, corporate life and the state. The idea that markets are
imperfect, and therefore firms and states need to actively participate in the
economic system is behind the fundamental assumption of classic theory: that
the only objective for companies is to maximize their profits through their
perfectly rational actions. (Friedman, 1970; García-de-Madariaga &
Rodríguez-de-Rivera-Cremades 2010)
However, in contrast to such classic political and economic theories of the
firm, behavioral theories have adopted the cognitive assumption of bounded
rationality, which Simon (1957) referred to as behavior that is intentionally
rational, but only limitedly so. Scholars such as Cyert and March, Oliver
Williamson, and Nelson and Winter have adopted the general characteristics
of bounded rationality as a starting point in building theories of firm that
incorporate behavioral assumptions (Simon 1979). However, most of these
behavioral theories (Cyert & March 1963; Lawrence & Lorch 1967; Chandler
1960; Nelson & Winter 1982; Penrose 1959; Williamson 1996) still maintain
that the firm’s goal is to attain profit maximization in the short run. What
22
differentiates these theories is their emphasis on the mechanism through which
to achieve such a goal (Simon 1979). Table 2 below summarizes views on the
purpose of the firm advocated by scholars representing behavioral theories.
Table 2
The purpose of the firm according to classical theories
Authors
Purpose of the firm
Chandler (1960)
Effective allocation of resources to serve the shortterm and long-term functions and comply with
developments in the market
Five major goals: production, inventory, sales, market
share, and profit
Growth in profit, sales, new product development, and
firm size
Motivated and focused on improving profit
Cyeret and March
(1963)
Lawrance and Lorch
(1967)
Nelson and Winter
(1982)
Penrose (1959)
Profit maximization, growth
Simon (1957)
Profit or utility maximization
Williamson (1995)
Profit maximization
Today’s society highlights the limitations in placing profit maximization as
the firm’s primary goal. Competition in both local and global markets has
become so challenging that the pressure to maximize profits has prevented
some firms from respecting the law and ethical norms. Aggressive
internationalization to developing countries has resulted in a lack of respect
for the human rights of host-country workers. Even in developed countries the
exaggerated pursuit of profit maximization and a lack of business ethics have
resulted in financial crises that have sent global economies into recession and
increased the number of unemployed people (García-de-Madariaga &
Rodríguez-de-Rivera-Cremades 2010).
Given such limitations, streams of literature have emerged that reject profit
maximization as the firm’s primary goal. Although profit maximization is
emphasized as the ultimate goal, at the same time according to the behavioral
theory of the firm (Cyert & March 1963), organizational goals are imperfectly
rationalized, and firms also develop and pursue non-economic goals through a
process of interaction and coalition within firms (Chrisman, Chua, Pearson &
Barnett 2012). The family firm is a good example of how non-economic goals
are developed and adopted, sometimes more strenuously than economic goals,
due to the involvement of the family (as a very strong coalition) in its
23
ownership, governance and management. Members of the family are willing to
make decisions that are driven not by economic logic, but by dynastic
motivational goals (such as family harmony, family social status and family
and firm-identity linkage), and socio-emotional endowment such as
philanthropic activities and the welfare of employees (Cannamo, Berrone,
Cruz & Gomez-Mejia 2012, Casson 1999; Chrisman et al. 2012).
Another stream of literature that emphasizes non-economic goals promotes
corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Carroll 1979). Reflecting the logic in
the literature on family businesses, CSR literature supports environmental and
social responsibility in firms from the perspective of stakeholder theory,
suggesting that success depends on interaction with several coalitions
(stakeholders). Although the theory does not reject the objective of profit
maximization as a necessary condition enabling a firm to achieve its goals, it
refers to other non-economic goals as an equally or even more important
objective (García-de-Madariaga & Rodríguez-de-Rivera-Cremades 2010).
The proposition put forward in this dissertation – that a firm’s purpose of
achieving organizational longevity shares similar assumptions as theories of
family business and CSR, in the sense that it rejects the idea that its ultimate
purpose should be profit maximization. I rather see profit making as a
necessary condition through which to achieve a higher organizational goal:
organizational longevity. The core assumption I propose here is that making a
profit rather serves as a tool with which to achieve this higher goal. As implied
in the literature on family businesses and CSR, setting a non-economic goal as
its ultimate purpose might open up a whole new perspective on the theory of
the firm.
Making longevity the primary goal has numerous benefits. First, human
capital in firms that prioritize longevity over short-term profit tends to have
stronger commitment and closer relationships, and thus the potential for
developing and sharing deep-rooted tacit knowledge. Such commitment is
particularly valuable in times of economic crisis because it could serve as
‘survivability capital’ (i.e. “the pooled personal resources that […] are willing
to loan, contribute, or share for the benefit of the […] business (Sirman & Hitt
2003, 343)”. Second, these firms are more effective and consistent in their
long-term investment strategies due to the possession of patient capital (i.e.
“financial capital that is invested without threat of liquidation for long periods.”
(Sirman & Hitt 2003, 343) Third, they also typically have niche-product
advantage in focusing on a single or a few related product lines (Motoya 2004).
A niche-market strategy has certain advantages over product diversification,
such as making business activities less complicated for smaller firms, making
the product stand out from the crowd, and establishing higher trust among
customers by focusing on the firm’s expertise. Moreover, according to the
24
literature on business longevity, firms with a long history tend to be
concentrated in particular local regions, maintaining trust-based relationships
with their suppliers and customers from the time of their establishment
(Motoya 2004). These companies also tend to value their region of origin,
maintaining reciprocal connections with members of the local community and
enjoying long-term relationships with internal and external stakeholders,
thereby creating, developing and maintaining social capital (Motoya 2004).
Finally, firms with organizational longevity as their primary goal tend to have
a long-term orientation and a strong culture based on family values, both of
which help to ensure success into the next generation (Casson 1999). Although
not limited to these benefits and insights, setting longevity as a primary
objective and focusing more closely on the time dimension challenge the
conventional assumption of the theory of the firm and offer an alternative
perspective.
Consequently, I believe it is worthwhile considering organizational
longevity a meaningful goal and purpose for a firm. However, in fairness it is
important to point out some of the drawbacks. For instance, it is suggested in
the literature that long-established firms tend to be limited in terms of size and
growth due to the absence of outside managers and the limited access to
external financial capital, largely attributable to the nature of family ownership
and control (Casson 1999; Sirman & Hitt 2003). Following this discussion
about why longevity should be considered among the main purposes of the
firm, the next section addresses the how question, drawing from existing
literature on business longevity.
1.3.2 Ways of studying business longevity
Most of the research on business longevity has been conducted in the contexts
of business history and management studies. Business historians have used a
firm’s survival as one indicator of its success in analyzing the evolution of
long-living firms from a historical perspective. On the other hand,
management scholars have investigated the critical success factors of such
firms, seeking patterns explaining why certain companies have been able to
survive for a long time. In terms of theoretical perspectives, some
contributions have been emerging in the contexts of strategy research
(emphasizing internal attributes) and organizational theory (focusing on the
external conditions related to business survival) (Napolitano et al. 2015).
Strategists have been trying to explain organizational longevity in terms of
internal factors, using theories such as the resource-based view of the firm
(RBV) and organizational capabilities (Penrose 1959; Wernerfelt 1984). This
25
stream of literature in particular points out the strategic importance of the
firm’s core ideology, vision and identity as contributing factors to longevity
(Collins & Porras 1994; De Geus 1997). (Napolitano et al. 2015.) Collins and
Porras (1994), for example, found that the core values and purposes of
visionary companies remain unchanged whereas their business strategies and
practices adapt to the external world.
On the other hand, analyses in the domain of organization theory have
focused on the effect of external conditions on survival. The core perspectives
include organizational population ecology and evolutionary economics,
typically in terms of the product and industry life cycle, and institutional
characteristics and changes (Agarwal & Gort 2002; Hannan & Freeman 1977;
Murmann 2003; Nelson & Winter 1982; Klepper & Simons 2002).
(Napolitano et al. 2015.) Agrawal and Gort (2002), for example, see the
relationship between the firm and the product life cycle in terms of industry
and firm attributes. In spite of accumulating contributions from these various
interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives however, the research results are not
consistent. Thus, there has recently been a call to investigate business
longevity from a multidisciplinary perspective that brings together internal and
external aspects. (Napolitano et al. 2015.)
With regard to Japanese research on Shinise firms, a limited amount of
work has been done, mainly in identifying the individual factors leading to
longevity in certain firms. For example, Yoshimura and Sone (2005), Izumi
(2008) and Teikoku Data Bank (2009) focus on the corporate philosophies and
values of Shinise companies, whereas Hiramatsu (2004) and Samezawa (2004)
concentrate on the education of human assets. Researchers such as Funabashi
(2003), Yokozawa (2000) and Nihonkeizaishinbunsha (2010) carried out more
comprehensive studies, but ended up listing the individual factors leading to
Shinise longevity, without connecting them with general management theories
or the adoption of useful theoretical frameworks (cf. Ito et al. 2014).
Given the current state of the research, which is highly divergent and
reports mixed results in both Western and Japanese literature, the optimal
choice at this point would be to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to
investigating organizational longevity. According to Riviezzo, Skippari and
Garofano (2015), for instance, who conducted a systematic review of the
existing literature on business longevity covering the last three decades, there
is a need for studies that give more holistic and overarching explanations from
an inter-disciplinary perspective. However, according to Whetten (1989) there
are two basic criteria that need to be taken into account before deciding on
which concepts to include in explanations of social phenomena:
comprehensiveness and parsimony. Rather than trying to include all possible
relevant factors studied in the field, limiting the analytical focus to a selected
26
few may result in more robust theories (Whetten 1989). Given the
phenomenon-driven nature of my study, the choice of theoretical focus
emerged both during and after the data collection. However, at the same time
having carefully read the Japanese literature, I began to identify a common
thread. I noticed numerous indications that balancing stability and change
might lead to organizational longevity, regardless of the focus on a particular
firm’s functional area (such as human resource management, production or
marketing) or of whether the author focused on internal or external aspects of
the firm’s operations. The following table summarizes the key insights gained
from earlier research in Shinise firms on balancing stability and change.
27
Table 3
Earlier research on longevity in Shinise firms with insights into
balancing stability and change
Authors
Focus of the
study
Human resource
management,
the education of
human assets
Hiramatsu
(2004)
Kamata
(2006)
R&D,
production and
marketing
Murayama Analysis of
(2008)
Kyoto’s local
industry and
culture
Matsuoka Analysis of
and Tsujita tradition and
(2012)
innovation in
Kyoto’s Shinise
firms
Nagasawa
and
Someya
(2009)
The marketing
and
management of
technology
Samezawa
(2004)
Human resource
management,
the education of
human assets
Yokozawa
(2000)
Management in
general,
marketing, CSR
Key insights into balancing stability and
change
Cross-generational inheritance of traditional
production methods and the role of modern
technology in that.
The importance of not forgetting the ‘human
element’ in modern production facilities.
Modern techniques for marketing traditional
products.
Collaboration of local universities and
research institutes with Shinise firms.
The contribution of traditional Shinise
industry to the development of modern hightech industries.
The Shinise firms in Kyoto keep certain
traditions but also engage in various
innovative management activities such as new
product development, the development of new
customer bases and the diversification of
business lines.
The introduction of modern technology into
production, while maintaining traditional
products and production methods.
The adoption of vertical, cross-generational
marketing (keeping the tradition) in addition
to conventional horizontal marketing
(expanding the market share).
The importance of having human assets who
constantly improve and adopt new ideas at the
same time as following old traditions.
The fact that primogeniture is not the most
important aspect of cross-generational
management: the most talented person should
inherit the business.
The importance of managing information and
promoting innovation while maintaining one’s
roots in the local community and continuing
being a Shinise firm that exists for the sake of
that community.
According to many of the Japanese studies, Shinise firms have survived
through both adapting to the environment and engaging in innovative activities
28
at the same time as keeping up their traditions (Izumi 2008; Samezawa 2004;
Yokozawa 2000). Samezawa’s (2004) findings indicate that Shinise firms
achieve this balance by making minor changes constantly that customers do
not notice, so that in the end the accumulation of smaller innovations becomes
the tradition. Similarly, Samezawa (2004) concluded in his study of
Kongougumi (a Japanese construction firm with a history of more than 1,400
years) that one of the reasons why it could survive for so long was its
flexibility, not only relying on traditional construction methods, but also
integrating modern technologies. Nagasawa and Someya (2009) report similar
findings from their single-case study of the well-known Japanese
confectionary firm, Toraya: they concluded that the company’s success was a
result of combining traditional products and the associated brand effect with
value creation through customer experience and technological expertise that
enabled it to stand out from other firms. Matsuoka and Trujita’s (2012)
survey-based study highlights the innovative activities in which contemporary
Shinise firms in Kyoto engage while keeping up their traditions. Finally,
Murayama (2008) found that balancing tradition and innovation was a
common characteristic of Shinise firms in general, particularly in the Kyoto
area. On the basis of his analysis of Kyoto’s industrial development he argues
that the traditional sector produced the modern high-tech industries. At the
same time, he suggests that the high-tech industries incorporate some aspects
of the traditional industries. Similarly, Yokozawa (2000) emphasizes the
importance of the Shinise firm’s deep-rooted relationship with the local
community in balancing stability and change.
Although these Japanese studies have various drawbacks in that they tend to
be descriptive, and lack a rigid methodological approach as well as any
connection to established theories, they draw the clear common conclusion
that Shinise firms generally are able to balance various aspects of stability and
change. On the basis of the previous works discussed above, and my own
empirical data collection, I came to the basic assumption that achieving
longevity is about balancing stability and change.
1.4 The purpose of the study
In the previous two sections I explained what the topic of my study is (the
phenomenon), why this topic should be studied, and how it should be studied.
These three questions, what, why and how are key elements in robust theory
development (Whetten 1989). Having set the framework of my study in the
light of these questions, I will now introduce the research question that guides
the overall dissertation. Drawing on the two stages of problematization, I have
29
formulated the research question as follows: How have Shinise firms achieved
longevity by balancing stability and change?
The optimal starting point in addressing this broad research question is to
conduct an inductive, ethnographic study: entering deeply into the field
enables the researcher to narrow down the broad research question, find the
optimal theoretical focus during the data-collection phase, and engage in
inductive theory building (Eisenhardt 1989; Locke 2007). Thus, the purpose of
the first phase of the dissertation is to conduct single-case ethnographic study
of a Shinise firm based on a rather broad research sub-question:
1. How are stability and change achieved in a Shinise firm (from the
perspective of routine practice theory)?
Aspects of organizational stability and change can be investigated through
multiple theoretical lenses such as (1) routine practice theory, and theories of
(2) culture and (3) organizational identity (cf. Birkinshaw & Gupta 2013).
Following the ethnographic study conducted during the initial data-collection
stage, these three sets of lenses came to be considered alternative theoretical
perspectives explaining the balancing of stability and change in Shinise firms.
In line with the inductive theory-building approach, the first sub-question was
addressed from the perspective of routine practice theory. According to the
theory, routines have internal aspects that dynamically interact, thus it turned
out to be a useful basis on which to theorize organizational stability and
change.
Second, in addressing the overall research question it is not enough to
investigate longevity in Shinise firms merely internally. Historical, contextual
elements should also be analyzed alongside the internal factors. More
specifically, this involved investigating the historical acculturation between
the Shinise organizational culture and local cultures. Given the recent
development in conceptualizing culture as both stable and changing on both
the organizational and the contextual level (Berry 2008; Sasaki & Yoshikawa
2014), I decided to examine the stability and change of Shinise firms both
internally and externally by means of culture theory. Hence, the second
research sub-question was the following:
2. How and why can Shinise firms achieve long-term survival despite
environmental turbulence (from the perspective of theories of culture)?
Finally, complementing the second sub-question, it is necessary to
investigate the micro-process behind the factors that remain stable or change
in the internal and external elements of a Shinise firm. Whereas the second
sub-question represents a historical (vertical) perspective on stability and
change, the final sub-question addresses the cognitive micro-process of the
inherent dynamism from more of a horizontal perspective. More specifically,
30
the micro-process is analyzed from the perspectives of cross-level cultural
change and organizational identification. The literature on organizational
identity was included because it deals extensively with the issue of balancing
stability and change in identities (Chreim 2005). The third research subquestion is therefore:
3. How does the micro-process of cultural change happen in a cross-level
context (from the perspectives of the theories of culture and organizational
identity)?
The overall research question and the three sub-questions are addressed in
three articles: (1) “Who wants to live forever? Rethinking organizational
stability and change in a ‘Shinise’ company” by Sasaki, Zettinig and Sandberg
(2015); (2) “Cultural Approach to Understanding the Long-Term Survival of
Firms - Japanese Shinise Firms in the Sake Brewing Industry” by Sasaki &
Sone (2015); and (3) “How does the micro-process of cultural change work in
a cross-level context? Japanese Shinise firms in their local communities” by
Sasaki (2015).
1.5 The structure of the thesis
The rest of the dissertation is structured as follows. First, in order to deepen
the theoretical discussion on the basic assumption (that balancing stability and
change leads to organizational longevity), Chapter 2 reviews the literature on
organizational stability and change, and their role in achieving organizational
longevity. Second, leading on from this, three sets of alternative theoretical
lenses (routine practice theory, and the theories of culture and organizational
identity) through which to assess organizational stability and change are
introduced and discussed, and their similarities, differences, and interrelationships are analyzed. The final discussion concerns the potential for
combining these theories, and the difficulties involved.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in the dissertation: the research
approach, the conceptual and empirical research processes, the data analysis,
and the evaluation of the study. The chapter gives readers a view of the overall
process of research and analysis I conducted during my doctoral studies, and
how this process resulted in three separate research articles.
The empirical findings of the overall study are discussed in Chapter 4. First,
the findings reported in the three articles are summarized and synthesized. The
main findings are confirmed and validated through the introduction of findings
from other contexts in order to enhance transferability and analytical
generalization. Finally, the empirical findings are synthesized in order to
obtain an answer to the overall research question of the dissertation.
31
Chapter 5 covers the theoretical and managerial implications, the boundary
conditions, and suggestions for future research. I explain how my study offers
contributions that confirm and extend the extant theories, and provide new
insights, in the light of the overall research question. In particular, sub-section
5.4.1 (Future suggestions for research on organizational longevity from a
theoretical perspective) offers insights into how the three sets of alternative
theoretical lenses can be combined to purposefully answer the research
question, thereby providing a contribution that complements but is
independent of the three research articles.
33
2 THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF
ORGANIZATIONAL LONGEVITY
2.1 Longevity as a balancing act between stability and change
I discussed different approaches to investigating organizational longevity in
the introductory section, and explained why I arrived at the basic assumption
that it is about balancing stability and change. Following on from the literature
review, in this first part of the theory chapter I intend to deepen the discussion
about this basic assumption by defining organizational stability and change,
and suggesting how balancing stability and change might lead to
organizational longevity.
2.1.1 Organizational stability defined
One easily gets the impression from reviewing the literature on management
and organizations that there is a need to innovate and frequently change the
core of a firm’s business approach in order to achieve organizational longevity
in turbulent environments (e.g. Denning 2005). Contradicting this popular
view, my study is based on the assumption that an element of organizational
stability is also necessary for a firm to achieve longevity. It is necessary
explicitly to distinguish organizational stability from organizational longevity:
at first glance the two concepts could be taken as synonyms. My study is
based on the assumption that organizational stability is the element that leads
to organizational longevity, which is the ultimate goal of a firm.
Organizational stability is defined as “maintaining the status quo in
organizational features and processes, including all aspects of acquired
learning and accepted practices” (Burchell & Kolb 2006, 33). It is generally
associated with terms such as “centralisation, conflict reduction, conformity,
consensus, consistency, continuity, control, formalisation, hierarchy,
integration, maintenance, order, security, status quo and standardization”
(Burchell & Kolb 2006, 33). Similarly, according to Farjoun (2010, 204),
‘exploitation’ is closely related to stability: “exploitation relates to
economists’ notions of static efficiency and stability […], selection and low
variance […], and retention, repetition, and consistency […]. It is associated
with continuation of direction, local refinements and extensions of existing
34
competencies, technologies and paradigms, and reliability of experience, and it
flourishes in stable, predictable settings.” ‘Long-term orientation’ is another
related concept, defined as “the tendency to prioritize the long-range
implications and impact of decisions and actions that come to fruition after an
extended time period” (Lumpkin & Birgham 2011, 1152). According to
Lumpkin and Birgham (2011, 1150), a long-term orientation has three
dimensions: futurity (the view that “focusing on and planning for the future
has utility”), continuity (the idea that “durability and constancy across time
contribute to value creation in the future”), and perseverance (“the
conscientiousness required in the present to reach desired future states”). Thus
the concepts of long-term orientation and continuity seem to be more timesensitive than ‘stability’. In line with the terminology commonly used in the
theoretical discussion on routine practice, culture, and organizational identity,
I use the term ‘organizational stability’ as the principal concept, and
depending on the theoretical and empirical contexts, use synonyms such as
‘continuity’ and ‘tradition’ interchangeably.
2.1.2 Organizational change defined
The aspect of organizational change has been studied much more explicitly
than organizational stability (Lewin 1947; Tsoukas & Chia 2002¸Van de Ven
& Poole 2005; Weick & Quinn 1999; Westover 2010). Change is empirically
easier to articulate and analyze than stability because it is easier for humans to
realize and observe what has changed, compared to elements that are static
and often taken for granted. In fact, according to Van de Ven and Poole
(2005), analyzing how change occurs in an organization, against the metric of
time, establishes the opposite, in other words stability. For instance, in the case
of organizational culture it is much easier to articulate surface-level artifactual
elements of culture than deep-rooted basic assumptions shared by a group of
people (Schein 2004). In line with this approach, organizational stability is
captured in this study through observing what has changed.
Major conceptual developments in the literature on organizational change
include the distinction between discontinuous (or episodic) and evolving
(incremental) change (Weick & Quinn 1999). Other frequently used basic
typologies include Van de Ven & Poole’s (1995) two dimensions of the (a)
unit of change and (b) mode of change. Weick and Quinn (1999) added the
‘tempo of change’ to this as a meaningful distinguishing feature. Weick and
Quinn (1999, 362–363) describe change in general and organizational change
in particular as follows:
35
“[A]t the most general level, change is a phenomenon of time. It is the way
people talk about the event in which something appears to become, or turn
into, something else, […] In reference to organizations, change involves
difference in how an organization functions, who its members and leaders are,
what form it takes, or how it allocates its resources. […] From the perspective
of organizational development, change is a set of behavioral science-based
theories, values, strategies, and techniques aimed at the planned change of the
organizational work setting for the purpose of enhancing individual
development and improving organizational performance, through the
alteration of organizational members’ on-the-job behaviors.”
As the above description suggests, the role of human agency in
organizational change has attracted considerable interest in the literature.
Lewin (1947) describes the process of planned change in three phases:
unfreezing, changing and refreezing. Since then the focus has switched to the
role of individuals in developing strategies for overcoming resistance to
change and creating various change processes (Westover 2010). In line with
this argumentation, I adopt the definition put forward by Thoukas and Chia
(2002) that emphasizes the role of human agency in organizational change.
Thoukas and Chia (2002, 567) define change (or organizational change) as
follows: “[c]hange, we argue, is the reweaving of actor’s webs of beliefs and
habits of action to accommodate new experiences obtained through
interactions. […] change is inherent in human action, and organizations are
sites of continuously evolving human action.”
As in the case of stability, change is generally associated with terms such as
“adaptiveness, continuous improvement, creativity, customisation, differentiation, diversity, flexibility, innovation, intrapreneurship, responsiveness and
transformation” (Burchell & Kolb 2006, 33). In addition, according to Farjoun
(2010, 204), ‘exploration’ is similar to change: “Exploration is closely related
to change […], variability, flexibility […], and new directions […]; is associated with innovation and dynamic, long-term efficiency […]; and suits
dynamic and ambiguous settings. Its signature is experimentation, variety in
experience, substitution, and adaptiveness […].” Again, I use the term
‘change’ as the principal concept, interspersed with the above synonyms,
depending on the context.
2.1.3 Balancing organizational stability and change and longevity of a firm
The literature review in this section covers research that (1) deals with
balancing organizational stability and change and (2) argues that achieving
such a balance leads to organizational longevity.
36
Balancing organizational stability and change. The concepts of stability and
change, and associated concepts tend to be defined as opposites, separate and
incompatible in the conventional literature on management and organizations.
Going against this general notion, Farjoun (2010) argues that stability and
change are fundamentally interdependent and mutually enabling rather than
simply contradictory. This concept of ‘organizational ambidexterity’, defined
as: “an organization's capacity to address two organizationally incompatible
objectives equally well” (Birkinshaw & Gupta 2013, 291), further supports
this argument. The terms ‘duality’ and ‘ambidexterity’ have conceptually
similar nuances, although the respective levels of analysis are different
(duality refers to the character of an object and ambidexterity to organizational
capability).
The central argument in the literature on organizational ambidexterity is
that a firm’s core activity is the management of tensions between competing
objectives (Birkinshaw & Gupta 2013; Burchell & Kolb 2006; Leana & Barry
2000). For instance, interpersonal trust can facilitate the establishment of
stable human relationships, which could lead to flexible and adaptive
behaviors; a high level of concern for employees among managers can result
in emotional stability that could give employees the courage to take more risky
decisions; the introduction of new, innovative products may lead to
organizational stability. (Burchell & Kolb 2006.) This list goes on, and
ultimately any aspect of organizational operations could potentially be
captured through the concept of organizational ambidexterity. As Birkinshaw
and Gupta (2013, 290) state, “the study of ambidexterity is the study of firms
or indeed organizations.”
The roots of the concept of organizational ambidexterity lie in the chapter
of Robert Duncan’s (1976) book in which he describes the duality required to
manage various organizational aspects. It was 20 years later that Tsuhman and
O’Reilly (1996) wrote an article based on Duncan’s thinking, arguing that
ambidexterity was a prerequisite for organizational success. More precisely,
their point was that organizations had to have the “ability to simultaneously
pursue both incremental and discontinuous innovation change results from
hosting multiple contradictory structures processes, and cultures within the
same firm (Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996, 24)”. Another influential piece of
work is that of March (1991) in which he discusses the relationship between
exploitation and exploration across time and space. “The paper develops an
argument that adaptive processes, by refining exploitation more rapidly than
exploration, are likely to become effective in the short run but self-destructive
in the long run (March 1991, 71).” Gibson and Birkinshaw’s (2004) paper was
another influential contribution in the field. Having conducted an empirical
37
study they suggested that the notion of ambidexterity mediated the relationship
between the contextual features of an organization and its performance.
The advantage of organizational ambidexterity as an approach is that both
stability and change are considered not only necessary for long-term
effectiveness, but also mutually complementary (Birkinshaw & Gupta 2013;
Leana & Barry 2000). This assumption proved extremely useful in the theorybuilding process related to my dissertation. Investigating the ‘balance’ of
stability and change is about examining the relationship and interaction
between these two aspects in the organization, therefore viewing them as
separate constructs places limitations on the theory building. In the light of the
above-mentioned assumption I was able to take the theory building one step
further, identifying not only the ‘variables’ but also their relationships or
mechanisms (Whetten 1989).
Another advantage of the ambidexterity approach is its generic and
divergent nature. Of particular relevance are the assumptions that (1) the
duality can be managed in diverse ways, (2) ambidexterity is a multi-level
construct, and (3) the study of ambidexterity is the study of firms (Birkinshaw
& Gupta 2013), which could be adopted in studying the balance of stability
and change in Shinise firms. Consequently, as a starting point one could
analyze the mechanism through which Shinise firms balance stability and
change (1) from a variety of theoretical perspectives, (2) from a multi-level
perspective, and (3) in connection with organization-level outcomes such as
longevity. In sum, the above-mentioned assumptions established in the
literature on organizational ambidexterity serve as extremely useful guidelines
for my study.
Balancing stability and change with longevity. I now turn the focus to the
connection between balancing organizational stability and change with the
organizational outcome of longevity. There are some indications in Western
management and organization theories that successful firms in a competitive
environment operate in a state of structural chaos in which both continuation
and innovation co-exist (Brown & Eizenhardt 1998). There is also implicit
recognition in the literature that both stability and change contribute jointly to
organizational effectiveness (Farjoun 2010).
The implications extend to longevity in addition to success and
effectiveness. According to Farjoun (2010, 204), for example, “[u]nder the
exploitation-exploration model, to survive and prosper organizations must
balance the exploitation of current knowledge, routines, and capabilities with
the exploration of new options, the search for new knowledge, and innovation
[…]”, the implication being that balancing stability and change might lead to
survival and prosperity. Burchell and Kolb’s (2006) theoretical study also
advocates stability and change as two key, coexisting, interdependent
38
organizational dimensions that complement each other. As they state,
“organizations continue to exist only to the degree that they are able to
maintain a balance between flexibility [change] and stability” (Burchell &
Kolb 2006, 33), implying that organizations in which stability and change coexist tend to achieve longevity.
However, the weakness in the current literature is that although some
theory-based studies imply that balancing stability and change might lead to
organizational longevity, rigid empirical examination of the relationship is
rare. One notable exception is Burgelman and Grove’s (2007) study published
in the Strategic Management Journal, in which they suggest that
organizational longevity depends on “matching cycles of autonomous and
induced strategy processes to different forms of strategic dynamics, and that
the role of alert strategic leadership is to appropriately balance the induced and
autonomous processes throughout these cycles” (Burgelman & Grove 2007,
965). Their findings indicate that balancing induced (lining up potentially
diverging strategies) and autonomous (experimenting and selecting new
strategic initiatives) organizational processes is a very demanding task for
managers because the weighting varies throughout the evolution process and
needs to be balanced at all times without reducing either one to zero. Their
study is impressive in the sense that a massive amount of data was collected
by means of a single-case study. They collected qualitative data from formal
and informal interviews, observations and archive documents, longitudinally
over 38 years. One of the weaknesses of the study, however, is that it does not
define clearly what corporate longevity is. The authors merely state: “the
extent that corporate longevity depends on the capacity of a company to enter
into and exit from businesses in the face of changing strategic dynamics […]”
(Burgelman & Grove 2007, 966), but do not give clear criteria for defining the
concept.
Consequently, Western management literature contains a very limited
number of studies dealing with the connection between balancing stability and
change, and organizational longevity. As pointed out in the introduction of this
dissertation, one reason for this could be that most scholars in the field see the
organizational outcome as short-term profit maximization.
2.2 Alternative theoretical lenses
Chapter 2.1 extended the discussion on the basic assumption that balancing
stability and change leads to organizational longevity. Borrowing ideas from
the literature on organizational ambidexterity, I introduced more concrete
approaches to studying the research question through (1) multiple theoretical
39
lenses and (2) a multi-level perspective. Continuing on from this, in the
following I propose alternative theoretical lenses though which to study the
balancing of stability and change in an organization.
First, the theory of organizational routines (Becker, Lazaric, Nelson &
Winter, 2005) serves to establish the interplay between stability and change in
an organization: routines are traditionally viewed as stabilizing factors,
although recently they have been described as dynamic. Second, the literature
on organizational identity extensively discusses the issue of stability and
change: some researchers point out that both are necessary (Chreim 2005).
Finally, although culture is generally considered to be relatively stable, and its
dynamic features are under-investigated (Barney, 1986; Colin & Porras 1996;
Lau & Ngo 1996), recent theories of cultural change refer to the co-existence
of both stability and dynamism (Berry 2008; Sasaki & Yoshikawa 2014).
I analyze the balancing of organizational stability and change in my
dissertation through these three sets of theories. This section begins with a
discussion of the basic assumptions and their compatibility, and continues
with a brief summary of the respective literature. In the concluding synthesis I
identify the similarities, differences and inter-relationships. The three streams
of research have distinct trajectories, but can be complementary in developing
a more holistic understanding of how Shinise firms have balanced stability and
change.
2.2.1 The basic assumptions of the alternative theoretical lenses and their
compatibility
Like many other organizational theories, the concept of organizational routines
emerged from the Carnegie School (Cyert & March 1963; March & Simon
1958; Simon 1947). The theory is divided into two broad paradigms. Routines
are seen as organizational capabilities on the one hand, and on the other hand
more as operational mechanisms that change as a result of human enactment
(Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville, 2011). I adopt the practice perspective in
this dissertation, because it is better suited to explaining both stability and
change in an organization, whereas the capabilities perspective typically
focuses only on the stability aspect (Hansen & Vogel 2011). Below I discuss
the basic assumptions behind the theory of routine practice.
Routine practice theory is grounded in sociology and places great emphasis
on human agency as a source and means of change. Thus, routines are viewed
as “effortful accomplishments” of human agents (Pentland & Rueter 1994,
488). This perspective does not necessarily posit that human agents act in
accordance with bounded rationality but rather sees them as ‘situated’ in a
40
specific context, whose actions may or may not result in enacting routines.
The focal level of analysis is in the routine itself, and from this perspective
routines have many parts. The practice perspective thus largely concerns the
everyday process through which routines operate internally (how the different
parts interact). The methods most frequently used include longitudinal case
studies and ethnographies (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville, 2011).
Second, the discussion turns to the basic assumptions in theories of
organizational culture. The concept of culture has its roots in anthropology and
developed later in sociology (Denison 1996), and was imported into
organizational studies in the late 1970s (Keesing 1975). Since then the
literature has experienced a paradigm war between the functionalists and the
interpretivists (Kondra & Hurst 2009; Schultz & Hatch 1996). Scholars in the
functionalist camp rely mainly on value dimensions in their research.
Although this stream dominates the current field, it has been criticized for not
capturing the dynamism of culture. My view of culture tends to reflect the
interpretivist paradigm, which allows the examination of both stability and
change in an organization. I will therefore discuss the basic assumptions of
culture in organizational studies from the perspective of interpretivism.
Interpretivists understand culture as underlying patterns of assumptions,
values and beliefs in a certain group that form cultural configurations (Schultz
& Hatch 1996). The main interest of researchers in this domain is to search for
the underlying assumptions or meanings that order human experience
(Denison 1996). Culture is considered the ‘essence’ on which surface-level
behaviors are based. Therefore, the main research goal is to understand which
cultural meanings are reflected in surface-level cultural expressions. The
implication is that deep-rooted culture shapes human behavior. However, at
the same time it is assumed that a variety of stakeholders establish meaning
via socialization, interaction and the sharing of values, beliefs and basic
assumptions (Denison 1996). The focal level of analysis is the underlying
values, beliefs and assumptions, and the focal unit of analysis is the meaning
system in which the group of people find themselves. The most frequently
used methods are case studies and ethnographies (Denison 1996).
Finally, I will briefly discuss the basic assumptions behind organizational
identity. The literature is part of the wide field of organizational studies
(Alvesson, Lee Ashcraft & Thomas 2008). It is said that the macro-level
theories exerting the most influence on modern organizational identity theory
are those related to social identity and self-categorization (Tajfel 1979),
stemming from the field of social psychology. The theories of structural
identity and identity control (Stryker & Burke 2000), from the field of
sociology, have also been influential. Like the theories of routine practice and
culture, the theory of organizational identity spans two paradigms: the
41
essentialist (functionalist and institutionalist) and the social constructivist
(Corley et al. 2006). The essentialists maintain that organizations are not just
social collectives, but are individual social actors (Whetten & Mackey 2002;
Whetten 2006). They reject the idea of organizational identity as individuallevel cognition about “who the organization is” (Corley et al. 2006, 86), and
emphasize its stability. According to the social constructivists on the other
hand, organizational identity comprises the members’ shared understandings
and interpretations of the organization’s central, enduring and distinctive
characteristics (Alvesson et al. 2008; Ashforth 2008; Corley et al. 2006; Fiol
1991; Gioia et al. 2013; Howard-Grenville et al. 2013; Ravasi & Schultz 2006),
incorporating dynamism in the form of identity change. Given my objective of
explaining both organizational stability and change, I adopt social
constructivism as my focal paradigm.
It should be noted to begin with that the concept of organizational identity
refers not to the system itself, but to human self-understanding in relation to
the system (Fiol 1991). Depending on the person’s role in the organization,
his/her perception of what constitutes organizational identity might differ.
Thus, the unit of analysis is in the contextual frame that links parts of the
system to the whole (Fiol 1991). The focal level of analysis is thus the
cognitive human mind (individual). The empirical work represents interpretive
research, which typically provides a thick description of the process of identity
formation, maintenance and change in the members of an organization (Gioia,
Schultz & Corley 2002). The social constructivists see organizational identity
as a “self-referential concept defined by the members of an organization to
articulate who they are as an organization to themselves as well as outsiders”
(Gioia et al. 2000, 126). The main focus of this perspective is on
understanding the labels and meanings organizational members use to describe
themselves and their core attributes (Gioia et al. 2000). Finally, change is seen
as purposeful and adaptive to patterned human actions over time (Gioia et al.
2013). The following table summarizes the basic assumptions in the three
theories.
42
Table 4
Basic assumptions
Routine practice
theory
Main
interest
How routines
operate and the
internal dynamics
Focal level
of analysis
The routine
Unit of
analysis
Routines as parts
Methodolog
y
Qualitative
longitudinal case
studies,
ethnographies
Human
enactment/human
agency/humans
with varying
intentions,
motivations and
understandings
Behavioral
assumptions
Roots
Sociology
Cultural theories of
the firm
(interprativism)
Searching for the
underlying
assumptions or
meanings that order
human experience
The underlying
values, beliefs and
assumptions of the
system
The focal meaning
system
Case studies,
ethnographies
Meaning is
established through
socialization and
interaction among
various
stakeholders.
Culture is
considered the
‘essence’ on which
surface-level
behaviors are based
Anthropology and
sociology
Organizational
identity (social
constructivism)
Understanding the
labels and meanings
members use to
describe themselves
and their core
attributes
Cognitive processes
of the human mind
(individual)
The contextual frame
that links parts of a
system to the whole
Interpretive research,
case studies,
narratives
Change as purposeful
and adaptive
according to
patterned human
actions over time
Social psychology
and sociology
Continuing from the above discussion of each basic assumption in the three
theories, I will now assess their compatibility. It is clear that the three theories
have some aspects in common, and some that are completely different. First,
they could all be considered compatible in the sense that they have common
roots in sociology, and thus share behavioral assumptions and methodology in
the study of social phenomena. Given the common understanding that
organizational stability and change result from human agency and human
interaction, the three theories could be used in combination. Ideally,
43
combining these three streams of literature could give new insights into
organizational longevity.
However, the three streams differ fundamentally in terms of their main
interest. The focus in routine practice theory is on the routine itself, in culture
theory it is on the underlying assumptions and meanings of the meaning
system, and in organizational identity it is on the labels and meanings that
members use to describe themselves and their core attributes. These variations
in focal interest result in varying levels and units of analysis, which might
make it difficult to apply these theories in combination.
Nevertheless, it is not impossible to combine theories based on different
fundamental assumptions, provided that their “different underlying
assumptions, research methods, and focal questions” (Parmigiani & HowardGrenville 2011, 445) are respected. Even if the three theories in question have
different main interests and units and levels of analysis, deeper scrutiny of
them and their relationships might open up new insights and ways of
combining them. Echoing the approach of Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville
(2011), who made the effort to integrate two fundamentally different
approaches to studying routines (with different basic assumptions), I will first
briefly describe the basic concepts of the three theories, and then focus on
their commonalities, differences and inter-relationships as identified in the
literature review. Finally, I will summarize the most productive work
investigating longevity in Shinise firms in which the theories are combined,
and those in which the combination might be more difficult to achieve.
2.2.2 Routine practice theory
First I will briefly describe the basic concepts of the theory. John Dewey’s
(1922) notion of habit as one of the core drivers of human behavior is said to
have been the catalyst that initiated the study of organizational routines
(Cohen 2007). Furthermore, Nelson and Winter’s (1982) book, An
Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change is considered the most influential
work on routines in terms of formulating the capabilities perspective and
putting forward many of the ideas that are assumed to be consistent with the
practice perspective (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville 2011).
Examination of the paradigm differences between capabilities and practice
may enhance understanding of stability and change in routines. Organizational
routines are traditionally perceived as group-level entities or parts of an
organization that constitute its performance programs (Cyert & March 1963),
habits or skills (Nelson & Winter 1982; Stene 1940), genes (Nelson & Winter
1982), and repository of memory, grammars, or repertories (Parmigiani &
44
Howard-Grenville 2011). Particularly from the perspective of capabilities (i.e.
in the domain of organization and competence theory), which put more
emphasis on the stable aspect, routines are regarded as things that foster a
firm’s competitive advantage in constituting the micro-foundations of
capabilities or sticky routines (Hansen & Vogel 2011). Organizational
capability (i.e. firm-level assemblages of lower-level routines (Nelson &
Winter 1982) is considered a higher-level routine (Winter 2003), and
successful organizations are understood to operate according to a three-level
routine hierarchy (Nelson 1991): zero-level capabilities that represent
operation-level capabilities, first-order capabilities that involve changes in
relation to the zero-level processes (e.g. new product development), and
finally higher-order capabilities that can modify or develop first-order (i.e.
dynamic capabilities) capabilities. (Hansen & Vogel 2011.) Scholars such as
Teece, Pisano and Shuen (1997) and Eisenhardt and Martin (2000) further
developed this concept of a routine hierarchy into the notion of dynamic
capabilities.
Practice theory has a much shorter tradition, and unlike the capability
perspective focuses on how routines operate, in other words the internal
dynamics. Proponents of the theory describe routines as two parts,
emphasizing the actors’ influence on their co-constitution and focusing
interest on how they emerge and change (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville
2011). Given that practice theory covers both stability and change, I decided to
apply it in my study of Shinise firms.
Feldman (2000) challenged the traditional stability-focused capability
perspective on routines, proposing that they could be open to continuous
change. Practice theory “opens the black box of organizational routines and
conceptualizes them as being made of interacting parts,” whereas the
capabilities perspective “leaves the black box intact and focuses on the routine
as a whole” (Feldman & Pentland 2008, 302). Referring to the practice
perspective, the same authors define an organizational routine as “a repetitive,
recognizable pattern of interdependent actions, involving multiple actors”
(Feldman & Pentland 2003, 96), describing the internal dynamism as
operating through interaction between the performative and ostensive parts of
the routine (Feldman & Pentland 2003). The ostensive aspect is the “abstract,
generalized idea of the routine or the routine in principle (Feldman & Pentland
2003, 101)”, whereas the performative aspect is defined as the “the actual
‘enactment’ of organizational routines by human agents at a certain time and
space. (Feldman & Pentland 2003, 94)”. According to these definitions,
routines are, at least to some extent, “effortful accomplishments” by the
human actors who are involved in carrying them out (Pentland & Rueter 1994;
Becker et al. 2005). The performative aspects are said to be guided by the
45
ostensive aspects, and to create, maintain, and modify them (Feldman &
Pentland 2003; Dionysiou & Tsoukas 2013). It is frequently posited in the
literature that routines are created when their performative and ostensive
aspects become mutually constituted through interaction (Birnholtz, Cohen &
Hoch 2007; Cohen 2007; Feldman & Pentland 2003, Feldman & Orlikowski
2011; Turner & Rindova 2012). Mutual constitution implies that “structures
are the product of human action, yet, human action is constrained and enabled
by these very structures” (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville 2011, 421).
Accordingly, even apparently stable routines are products of the effortful
accomplishments of human agents, and both stability and change are the
results of the same dynamic process (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville 2011).
The theoretical discussion thus far indicates that routines shed light on both
stability and change, and that firms can be ambidextrous in this respect. The
practice perspective supports the notion that routines are simultaneously stable
and evolving, thus providing a microfoudations and key mechanisms to how
firms are able to balance stability and change. (Parmigiani & HowardGrenville 2011.) However, exploring the internal dynamism of routines does
not serve to explain organization-level stability or change. Rerup and Feldman
(2011) are among the few scholars to link the micro-process of routines and
organizational interpretive schemata, showing that trial-and-error learning
could connect the two through a micro-foundation of observable action. Rerup
and Feldman (2011, 578) define organizational interpretive schemata as “a set
of shared assumptions (Balogun & Johnson 2004), values (Gioia, Thomas,
Clark & Chittipeddi 1994), and frames of reference (Bartunek 1984) that give
meaning to everyday activities and guide how organization members think and
act (Elsbach, Barr & Hargadon 2005)”. In the same work they distinguish
between the espoused and enacted aspects of organizational schemata, arguing
(p 579) that interpretive schemata comprise the espoused aspect, which is “an
assembly of tenuously connected [ideas] that a person draws on in novel
situations when behavior is unscripted”, and that the enacted aspect is
“constituted of observable actions that transform the intention into realized
cognition and action”.
Schemata are deeply embedded in individuals, although the concept is
transferable to the organization-level cognition its members share (Harris
1994; Labianca et al. 2000; Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville 2011). The work
of Rerup and Feldman (2011) is particularly insightful in that it gives some
insight into how group-level routines can change the higher-level
organizational elements, thereby enabling researchers to use multi-level
perspectives to theorize stability and change in a firm. Thus, routines and
organizational interpretive schemata serve to explain one type of
46
organizational stability and change, which is why I chose to explain the
balancing activity Shinise firms from this theoretical angle.
2.2.3
Theories on culture in firms
I will now give a brief summary of theories of culture in firms. Nineteenthcentury anthropologists were among the first to systematize the concept of
culture (Keesing 1975). Until the early years of the twentieth century the great
majority of cultural anthropologists maintained the definition given by Edward
B. Tylor in his influential book first published in 1871, Primitive Culture,
which established the premises of modern anthropology. In recent years,
however, the concept has become highly diverse, encompassing a range of
topics (Keesing 1975; Jenks 1993; Wallace 1961; Gertrude & Philip 1964).
For some people, culture is learned behavior, whereas for others it is just an
abstraction from behavior. For some it exists only in the mind, but according
to others it consists of material things and events in the external world (White
1959).
The theory of culture was introduced into the domain of organizational
studies in the late 1970s, based on some concepts from anthropology
(Pettigrew 1979). However, it was only after Hofstede’s (1980) seminal work
that culture became a popular research topic in the field of management and
organization studies, and the national culture was established as the most
frequently studied aspect. Hofstede’s work became the classic against which
newer works on cultural differences were validated (Ailon 2008), although
many criticize it for ignoring the dynamism in culture, focusing too strongly
on values, and for the common use of Home Country Nationals (HCN) as a
proxy for national culture together with the assumption of its monolithic
nature (Ailon 2008; Brannen & Doz 2010; Caprar 2011; Earley 2006; Tung &
Verbeke 2010). There is extensive variation in how culture is defined, but in
general scholars describe it in terms of values, beliefs, norms, and practices
that are shared within a certain group of people (Gould & Grein 2008; House,
Javidan, Hanges & Dorfman 2002; Leung, Bhagat, Buchan, Erez & Gibson
2011; McSweeney 2009; Schein 2004; Smircich 1983).
As discussed above, there are paradigm disagreements in culture studies.
For example, functionalism and interpretivism differ with regard to the
analytical framework used in studying focal organizations (Schultz & Hatch
1996). Functionalists tend to create causal modes of analysis by pre-defining
variables and mapping the causal relations between them, often connected
with organizational aspects such as strategy, technology, and the environment.
Examples of analytical frameworks include the analysis of competing cultural
47
dimensions developed by Denison and Mishra (1995; focusing on adaptability
alongside mission, involvement, and consistency) and Kalliath, Bluedorn &
Gillespide (1999), and the dimensions of national culture proposed by
Hofstede (1980; 1991), GLOBE (House et al. 2002), and Schwartz (2006)
(Schultz & Hatch 1996). Functionalist analysis makes it possible to compare
large numbers of cultures by ‘freezing’ them and representing their
characteristics in cultural dimensions (Schultz & Hatch 1996). Although this
stream of research dominates the current field in business management, it has
been criticized for not capturing the dynamism of culture. On the contrary, it is
considered to be relatively stable, guiding the day-to-day operations in
organizations (Barney, 1986; Colin & Porras 1996; Lau & Ngo 1996), which
unlike formal institutions can change overnight (North 1990). Nevertheless,
culture does change through people’s behaviors and attitudes (Hatch 1993;
Kondra & Hurst 2009; Shenkar 2001; Schwartz 2006; Taras, Steel & Kirkman
2012; Tung & Verbeke 2010).
Interpretivism, on the other hand, follows an emergent path, on which the
constructs describing culture are not pre-defined. Interpretivists are interested
in the process of sensemaking and meaning creation, and view culture in terms
of symbols, meanings and practices that are created and reproduced through
the interactions of members of a certain group (Brannen & Salk 2000). The
resulting theorization is highly relevant to the dynamic process of culture
creation and formation (Brannen & Salk 2000; Schultz & Hatch 1996).
Language, for instance, is one of the key aspects of culture that produces
meanings by going beyond spoken words to incorporate objects, symbols and
behaviors, thus capturing its dynamic and interactive nature from the
interpretivist perspective (Brannen 2004; Brannen, Piekkari & Tietze 2014).
The remaining theoretical discussion focuses on cultural stability and change
in the interpretivist paradigm, the aim being to facilitate analysis of the various
aspects and their relationships in Shinise firms.
First, cultural stability and change could be seen in terms of separating
values and behaviors (cf. Schein 2004), and understanding the inherent
processes as generative systems that are constituted through the interaction of
values and practices. Several researchers suggest that current cultural studies
are too fixed on values, and neglect the behavioral and attitudinal outcomes
(Earley 2006; Javidan et al. 2006; Kondra & Hurst 2009). It is also
acknowledged in the literature that organizational behaviors are guided by the
values held by the members. However, it may be that the behavioral aspects of
culture modify the value aspects. Thus, in emphasizing the behavioral and
attitudinal aspects of culture it is possible to go one step beyond the
conventional perception of it as relatively static: scholars typically see values,
48
beliefs, and assumptions as guiding behavior and facilitating shared meaning,
thereby realizing organizational stability. (Sasaki 2015.)
Second, analyzing cross-level interaction of different cultural levels
(Kirkman, Lowe & Gibson 2006) could enhance understanding of stability and
change. Culture as a concept comprises a host of cultures on the national,
intra-national, and organizational level (Brannen & Doz 2010; McSweeney
2009; Shenkar 2001; Tung 2008; Tung & Verbeke 2010). Reflecting the
general definition of culture, national culture is defined as shared beliefs,
norms, values and behaviors held collectively by people in a nation (cf.
Hofstede 1980; House et al. 2002; Schwartz 2006). Furthermore, despite the
variation in definitions, many scholars acknowledge that organizational
culture comprises shared beliefs, norms, values and behaviors held
collectively by people in an organization (cf. Hatch 1993; Schein 2004; Sinclar
1993; Smircich 1983). Although relatively few studies adopt the local culture
as the unit of analysis (Sasaki & Yoshikawa 2014), culture on the localcommunity level is generally defined as the existence of a unique set of local
resources, practices and values that are shared among people and businesses in
a certain region, and which are distinct from those in other local regions
(Becattini 1990; Jones, Felps & Gregory 2007; Mizzu & Montanari 2008;
Oinas 1998; Pilon & DeBresson 2003; Saxenian 1994).
It is evident from this brief list of concepts that culture is nested in various
levels and groups. People encounter a host of national, intra-national,
organizational and national cultures, and their interactions and interrelationships may influence them in distinct ways (Kirkman et al. 2006;
McSweeney 2009). Although some studies point out the significant interaction
effect of national and organizational cultures, for instance (Sarala & Vaara
2010; Sirmon & Lane 2004), Berry’s (2008) acculturation theory is one of the
few widely accepted theories in the social sciences that conceptualize how
culture changes in cross-level settings: the effect of cultural change is
examined through interactions between ethno-cultural minority groups and
society at large. Two dimensions formulate Berry’s four typologies
(integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization): the maintenance of
the minority group’s traditional identity and culture, and the extent of
interaction between the two groups. The former symbolizes individual stability
and continuity, whereas the latter symbolizes adaptation and change in one’s
culture. It appears from these extant studies that one of the key ways to
capture both stability and change in culture is through theorization in a multilevel context and the interaction in that context.
Finally, the concept of cultural strength could be related cultural dynamism
(Saffold 1988; Sasaki & Yoshikawa 2014; Schein 2004; Weick 2001). A
culture is considered to be strong when its members (1) intensively and (2)
49
widely share common perceptions of the values that guide behaviors in the
group (Barnes, Jackson, Hutt and Kumar 2006; Bogaert, Boone & van
Witteloostuijn 2012; Bowen & Ostroff 2004; Danison & Mishra 1995;
DelCampo 2006; Duh, Belak & Milfelner 2010; Kimberly, Amundson,
Schroeder & Morris 1995; Kotrba, Gillespie, Schmidt, Smerek, Ritchie &
Denison 2012; Saffold 1988; Sørensen 2002; VanVianen, Annelies, De Pater,
Bechtoldt & Evers 2011). Findings from previous studies indicate that firms
can attain sustained competitive advantage and a positive performance if they
have a strong organizational culture, comprising well-established values,
beliefs, norms, habits and symbols (Barney 1986; Colin & Porras 1996).
Members of a high-performing organization share attitudes toward its
objectives and a commitment to corporate values (Lau & Ngo 1996). The
strength of a culture is assessed in terms of its homogeneity and intensity
(Calori & Sarnin 1991). A strong corporate culture may result in a strong
resistance to change (Welch & Welch 2006): strong cultures tend to be
homogeneous and less tolerant of deviant behaviors, and thus less likely to
change. Thus, a strong culture is associated with a stable culture. On the other
hand, weak cultures are more tolerant of deviant behaviors and are more
flexible: they may be more adaptive, encourage radical innovations and
entrepreneurial risk taking, and exploit new opportunities (Dosoglu-Guner
2001). A weak culture can therefore be associated with a tendency to change.
It could be concluded from this discussion that conceptualizing culture as
strong or weak, and then analyzing the relationships, is a useful pathway along
which to theorize the balance of organizational stability and change in Shinise
firms.
Overall, I have introduced three ways in which to capture stability and
change in culture: (1) separating values and behaviors and understanding the
inherent processes as generative systems that are constituted through the
interaction of values and practices; (2) theorizing culture in a multi-level
context; and (3) conceptualizing culture as strong or weak, and analyzing the
relationships. The weakness of the current literature is that the process of
cultural change is neglected (Joardar, Kostova & Ravlin 2007). Given its rich
potential in terms of theorizing organizational stability and change and their
relationship, I argue that culture theory is an appropriate basis on which to
study the Shinise phenomenon.
2.2.4 Organizational identity
Finally, I will briefly summarize theories of organizational identity. Albert and
Whetten (1985, 265) originally defined organizational identity as the “central,
50
distinctive and continuous elements of an organization”. Subsequent studies in
the social sciences have defined the phenomenon in various ways, from the
rather narrow (including just the core attributes of identification such as selfdefinition, importance and affect) to the rather broad (including values, beliefs,
goals, stereotypic traits, knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors) (Ashforth,
Harrison & Corley 2008).
The concept of organizational identity (or identification) overlaps with
organizational culture, image and organizational commitment, for instance
(Alvesson, et al. 2008, 5). The conceptual similarities with and differences
from organizational culture and routines are discussed in detail in the findings
section, and the discussion in this section is limited to the similarities,
differences, and inter-relationship with the concepts of image and
organizational commitment. First, organizational identity is, by definition,
self-referential (Albert & Whetten 1985), whereas an organizational image is
created through projection to an external audience (Gioia et al. 2000; Hatch &
Schultz 2002). Examples include constructed external images, projected
images, desired future images, corporate identity, transient impressions and
reputation (Gioia et al. 2000). Moreover, whereas organizational commitment
reflects the strength of the relationship between individuals and the
organization, both remaining separate (Johnson, Morgeson & Hekman 2012),
organizational identification reflects the sense of oneness, and measures the
perceived oneness with the organization and oneself (Ashforth, Harrison &
Corley 2008). Finally, it should be noted that the collective characteristics of a
company refer to organizational identity and the process through which
organizational members come to define and connect with it is referred to as
identification (Corley et al. 2006).
Having clarified the basic concept of organizational identity, I turn my
focus to how it serves to explain the balancing of stability and change in
Shinise firms. I mentioned earlier that the field of organizational identity is
divided into two epistemological camps, the essentialist (functionalist or
institutionalist) and the social constructivist (Corley et al. 2006), and that the
social constructivists are better able to theorize both stable and changing
aspects of organizations. The debate between the two is related to whether
organizational identity refers to a collective actor or a collection of actors
(Whetten 2006). In other words, views on the inter-relationship between
individual-level and collective-level identity are not unanimous (Corley,
Harquail, Pratt, Glynn, Fiol & Hatch 2006). From the social-constructivist
point of view, however, the concept of individual identity can be transferred to
the organizational level because the concepts are similar enough on the deep
structural level, and it is thus worthwhile posing questions that produce
reflection on the nature of collective identity (Gioia et al. 2002). Social
51
identity theory supports this view, advocating that albeit collective-level and
individual-level identities are distinct, they are conceptually related (Ashforth
& Mael 1989).
According to the social-constructivist understanding, identities are to be
found not only on the individual and the organizational level but also in wider
social groups such as local communities and nations. Howard-Grenville,
Metzger & Meyer (2013, 113) studied identities on the local-community level.
Borrowing from the literature on organizational identity they built a theory of
collective identity resurrection, defining collective identity rather simply as an
“expression of who we are”. Anteby and Molnàr (2012, 519) define national
identity as “the shared belief that a given organization helps a nation retain its
“grandeur” or […] a country’s “radiance” […]”. They suggest that national
identities can be disconnected from geographical boundaries and be largely
imagined by members of the organization. Accordingly, organization-level
constructs influence the formation of larger-level identities. The following
discussion adds depth in pointing out the significance of this multi-level
notion of identities in understanding stability and change in organizational
identity.
According to studies conducted by social constructivists, identity may
change through organizational practices (Gioia Patvardhan, Hamilton &
Corley 2013), identity gaps (the cognitive distance between the perception of
the current and ideal identities) (Reger et al. 1994), identity threats (a
mismatch between members’ perceptions and external perceptions of identity)
(Elsbach & Kramer 1996), and meaning voids (the state of not knowing what
it means to be who we think we would like to be) (Gioia, Price, Hamilton &
Thomas 2010). Moreover, Gioia et al. (2000) explain identity change through
its relationship with the organizational image. They distinguish between
‘identity endurance’ and ‘identity continuity’, the former implying that
identity remains the same over time and has some permanence, and the latter
that its stability lies in the labels, but the meanings and interpretations of the
labels change quite frequently. They further argue that instability is adaptive in
response to environmental demands, which are reflected primarily in the
organization’s external image. Accordingly, identity is a social construct that
is created from repeated interaction with others, and thus cannot be enduring
as such but is continuous while shifting in interpretation and meaning.
Furthermore, social-identity theorists refer to identity change through repeated
interactions of in- and out-group relations (Gioia Schultz & Corley 2000;
Ybema, Keenoy, Oswick, Beverungen, Ellis & Sabelis, 2009).
However, according to Ashforth et al. (2008), although these studies
indicate that organizational identity changes, they do not show the process
through which change happens. Although very few studies have succeeded in
52
theorizing the process, the extant literature suggests that one way would be to
examine the cross-level interplay between individuals and organizations in
identity formation and change (Ashforth et al. 2008; Humphreys & Brown’s
2002). For instance, Ashforth et al. (2008) theorized identification through the
concepts of affinity and emulation. Affinity refers to an individual’s
congruence with the organizational identity, and emulation to how that
individual changes to become congruent (Ashforth et al. 2008). In addition,
concepts such as sensemaking and sensegiving are frequently used in the
theorization of identity formation and change (Mantere, Schildt & Sillince,
2012; Weick, Sutcliffe & Obstfeld, 2005). Indeed, recent empirical work by
Howard-Grenville et al. (2013) and Ravasi and Schultz (2006) shows that
sensegiving and sensemaking can generate an embedded dynamic that is
mutually recursive and constitutive. However, one apparent weak point in the
literature on organizational identity is that it does not explicitly relate identity
change and endurance to organizational stability and change (Ullrich, Wieseke
& Van Drick et al. 2005).
Although very limited conceptual and empirical work has been done on
theorizing the process of stability and change in the domain of organizational
identity, the above discussion sheds some light on the concepts of
organizational stability and change and their relationship through a multi-level
examination of identities.
2.3 Synthesis
2.3.1 Similarities in the theories
Despite their distinct backgrounds, the three streams of literature (routine
practice theory, organizational culture, and organizational identity) have been
integrated into the wider field of organizational studies. During the course of
theoretical maturation they came to share certain similarities. First, all three
concepts are multi-dimensional. The multi-dimensionality is most clearly
evident in the theory of culture, which is addressed in the literature on
management and organization on the national, intra-national and
organizational level. Although only a few studies have been carried out, it is
recognized in the field that the interaction between the different levels of
culture might influence a firm’s operations (Kirkman et al. 2006; McSweeney
2009; Sarala & Vaara 2010; Sirmon & Lane 2004).
In a similar vein, inherent in the umbrella theory of organizational identity
are multi-level concepts such as personal identity (Alvesson et al. 2008),
identity on the local community level (Howard-Grenville et al. 2013), and
53
national identity (Anteby & Molnàr 2012). What connects the different levels
is the identification process (i.e. individuals might identify with organizational
or national identities, and organizations might identify with local-community
and national identities) (Gioia et al. 2002).
Finally, routine practice theory posits that ‘group-level’ organizational
routines influence and are influenced by higher-order elements such as
organizational capabilities, and firm-level constructs such as interpretive
schemata (Salvato & Rerup 2011), and that firm-level outcomes such as
organizational stability and change can be achieved through this interaction.
It is clear from a comparison of the various concepts used in the three
theories that interpretive schemata, organizational culture, and organizational
identity are organization-level concepts that members generally share. On the
other hand, personal identity and routines remain on the individual or group
level, and are not necessarily shared with other group members.
Second, each of the theories can be seen in a two-dimensional light. This is
most clearly visible and operationalized in routine practice theory. Routines
are said to be in a continuous state of change through the interaction between
their ostensive and performative aspects. The ostensive aspects guide the
performative aspects, whereas the performative aspects actively modify the
ostensive aspects (Feldman & Pentland 2003; Dionysiou & Tsoukas 2013).
These interactive processes co-constitute routines.
Organizational identity has internal and external dimensions, and according
to Gioia et al. (2000) can change through its relationship with the
organization’s image. Thus, whereas the organization’s internal and selfreferential identity serves to maintain its central and distinctive attributes, any
changes may be attributable, in part, to its external image among relevant
stakeholders. Accordingly, Clegg, Rhodes and Kornberger (2007, 497)
conceptualize identity as a process of “becoming”, meaning that it emerges
from the process of interacting with other multiple external identities.
Similar distinctions are evident in the field of culture. By definition, culture
comprises invisible values aspect and visible behavioral aspect. Values aspect
guide the behavioral aspects (Schein 2004; Smirchich 1993), whereas the
behavioral aspect may modify and change the values aspect. Hence, the
process of cultural change could be described as a set of generative systems
that form through the interaction of values and practices, as in the case of
routine practice theory. (Sasaki 2015.)
Third, inherent in each theory is both stability and change. Contrary to the
traditional perspectives on routines based on capabilities, routine practice
theory clearly posits that routines do change. The change happens not only
internally (on the same operational level) through interaction between the
ostensive and performative aspects, but also in accordance with the literature
54
on organizational identity, through multi-level interaction with the
organization’s interpretive schemata (Rerup & Feldman 2011). A relevant
detail in routine practice theory is the notion of routine change as endogenous
change, and the assumption that human agency is the main focus of attention.
Routines are acknowledged as “effortful accomplishments” (Pentland &
Rueter 1994, 488) that managers or employees tend deliberately to introduce,
so any changes are, to some extent, connected to the personal visions, goals
and interests of the actors carrying them out (Becker et al. 2005).
Similarly, the theory of organizational identity includes stable and changing
perspectives. As mentioned, the field is divided into two camps: essentialists
who see it as enduring, and social constructivists who see it as changing
through multi-level interaction (Corley et al. 2006). The latter advocate that
identities change through individual-collective level interaction and interaction
between internal and external perceptions of the organization’s identity.
Finally, paradigm disagreements in the field of culture are between the
functionalist and interpretivist perspectives (Schultz & Hatch 1996). Scholars
taking a functionalist stance tend to operationalize culture as static, whereas
the interpretivists see it as dynamic. Although the process is rarely studied
(Joardar, Kostova & Ravlin 2007), cultural change could be theorized, for
instance, in terms of separate values and behaviors, in a multi-level context,
and focusing on the strong and weak aspects of culture.
In sum, the three theories have commonalities in that each one (1) has
multi-level dimensions, (2) could also be viewed as two-dimensional and (3)
includes both stable and changing aspects.
2.3.2 Differences and inter-relationships across theories
Having explored the similarities in the three theoretical streams, I now
consider the differences and inter-relationships. I will begin with the three
organization-level constructs (interpretive schemata, culture, and identity). It
is clear from a comparison of the definitions that they over-lap. For instance,
inherent in interpretive schemata is a set of shared assumptions, values and
frames of reference (Rerup & Feldman 2011), which are key components of
organizational culture (Hatch 1993; Schein 2004; Sinclar 1993; Smircich
1983), and could also be considered “central, distinctive and continuous
elements of an organization” (Albert & Whetten 1985, 265). Similarly, key
concepts of culture are embedded in the wider formulation of organizational
identity (cf. Gould & Grein 2008; House et al. 2002; Leung et al. 2011;
McSweeney 2009).
55
How, then, do they differ? One striking difference is that organizational
identity cannot be operationalized in a similar way as organizational culture
and interpretive schemata, both of which constitute a values (and espoused)
aspect and a behavioral (enacted) aspect. According to Fiol (1991), whereas
organizational culture serves as a general standard against which the meanings
of organizational identities are understood, identities are inherently relational,
incorporating and differentiating new contextual understandings. Scholars
such as Christensen (1995), Gioia et al. (2013), Hatch and Schultz (2002), and
Ravasi and Schultz (2006) maintain that although key assumptions, values and
behaviors are essential parts of an organization’s identity, the role of identity
is to express cultural understanding, and it does not in itself equate to values:
organizational identity is textual, explicit and instrumental, whereas culture is
contextual, tacit and emergent.
Given that definitions of organizational culture and organizational
interpretive schemata are highly convergent, one might assume a similar
relationship between interpretive schemata and organizational identity, the
latter being the instrument through which the meanings of the espoused and
enacted aspects of the interpretive schemata are expressed and transmitted.
However, upon closer inspection of their essence and function,
organizational schemata appear to be conceptually more similar to
organizational identity. A schema is basically understood as residing in
individual cognition (Elo, Benjowski & Nummela 2015), its main function
being to help individuals to transverse, orient and identify with a certain group,
and to influence interpretations of the past and present, and of future
expectations (Harris 1994; Labianca et al. 2000). Thus, in terms of function, it
is more relational than contextual. As in the case of organizational identity, as
a concept a schema can be transferred to the organizational level (Harris 1994;
Labianca et al. 2000), and can co-exist in parallel with several other schemas
(Hall 2003). According to Harris’ (1994, 312) definition, an organizational
schema is “the knowledge and impressions regarding organizational groupings
[…] as entities […] somewhat abstracted from their individual members […]”.
Finally, as in the case of organizational identity, once a schema is established
it tends to endure and is resistant to change (Labianca et al. 2000).
Consequently, it is extremely difficult on the basis of the above discussion to
distinguish the concept of organizational interpretive schemata from the other
two concepts based on its definition, essence and functions.
Second, I consider how these organization-level concepts relate to lowerlevel concepts such as routines and personal identity. Routines are referred to
as habitual or pattered actions reflecting a tacit culture, whereas organizational
culture could be understood to result from the sharing of meanings through
interactions, routines and everyday procedures (Kondra & Hurst 2009).
56
Similarly, according to Fiol (1991), organizational identities derive from
behavioral routines, the patterns of which formulate and enhance them. When
organizations announce a new identity in an attempt to pursue strategic change,
they may not bring about the change until it is routinized, because identity is
deeply embedded in the routines (Gioia et al. 2013). An established
organizational identity might also influence the formation of routines. It is
suggested in the limited amount of literature that routines may relate similarly
to both organizational culture and organizational identity. However, this
cannot be the case given that the two concepts are distinct in their nature and
function. Therefore, how routines relate differently to organizational culture
and organizational identity constitutes a gap in the literature. In addition,
although not referred to in the literature, the personal identities of
organizational members might also influence the formation of routines.
In sum, whereas definitions of organizational interpretive schemata,
organizational culture, and organizational identity are very similar, their
characteristics and functions are distinct. It is particularly difficult to
distinguish the concept of organizational interpretive schemata from the two
other concepts based on its definition, essence and functions. Second, although
it is acknowledged that organizations are embedded in various cultures,
structures and routines (Scott 1995), very little is known about how routines
link to higher-level organizational entities such as culture and identity, or
about how individual-level constructs such as personal identity interact with
routines as a group-level construct.
2.3.3 Opportunities and challenges in the synergistic use of the three
theoretical lenses to enhance understanding of organizational longevity
Having examined the basic tenets of each theory separately, and crosscompared them, I conclude that they all independently have the potential to
explain the interplay of organizational stability and change. In combination
they may have more explanatory power in terms of how balancing stability
and change might lead to organizational longevity. To conclude this chapter I
identify where such combined work might best be achieved, and where it
might be more difficult.
It is posited in Chapter 2.2.1 on basic assumptions and compatibility that
the three theories have a common base in the form of behavioral assumptions
and methods. However, it is also pointed out that using them in combination
might be hard on account of their varying main interests, and levels and units
of analysis. Deeper analysis nevertheless revealed certain commonalities in
terms of multi-level dimensionality, an identified relationship between two
57
dimensions, and the inclusion of both stable and changing aspects. These
similarities ease the constraints in the basic assumptions. For instance, the
potential to transfer the concepts of identity and schemata to the organizational
level eases the restrictions concerning the basic assumption of different levels
of analysis.
With regard to possible combinative work, the most productive way
forward could be to combine the theories of organizational identity and culture.
Of particular significance is the dual-aspect perspective on culture, as invisible
value and as visible behavior. Although the extant literature provides insights
into the relationship between organizational culture and organizational identity,
this perspective establishes a higher-level foundation on which theories of
culture and organizational identity can be applied in a complementary manner
to analyze the micro-process of cultural change (Sasaki 2015). The detailed
discussion in Chapter 4 (Empirical Findings) explains the mechanism through
which these two theories could be combined. What I wish to make clear here,
is that these two theories could be combined to explain organizational stability
and dynamism because they differ in terms of interest, and level and unit of
analysis. Consequently, the incompatibility of the basic assumptions facilitates
the complementarity.
With regard to the analysis of differences in and inter-relationships between
the three theories, as mentioned, it is relatively difficult to combine the
concepts from routine practice theory with the other two theories. Further
effort is needed in this domain in order to increase the power to explain how
stability and change are balanced in a Shinise firm. The concluding chapter of
the dissertation includes a more concrete discussion on future research
potential. In sum, I suggest that viewing these theories as complementary
rather than contradictory might be beneficial in terms of theory building aimed
at enhancing understanding of how stability and change are achieved in
Shinise firms.
59
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research approach
The starting point of the research was my encounter with and interest in the
phenomenon of longevity in Shinise firms. The overall research question of
the dissertation (How have Shinise firms achieved longevity by balancing
stability and change?) was inspired by the phenomenon, and was later refined
based on a literature review. Therefore, the overall research approach could be
described as inductive theory building, the main objective of which is to
include new theory from empirical data that does not just describe the
empirical phenomena but also identifies the main constructs and their
relationships in the form of a theory (Welch, Piekkari, Plakoyiannaki &
Paavilainen-Mäntymäki 2011). My dissertation as a whole follows the typical
process of inductive theory building: the first step was to develop a substantial
body of observations, the second was to formulate valid concepts and establish
relationships between them, and then to contrast them with extant theories,
and the final step was to identify the theoretical domain and boundary
conditions (Eisenhardt 1989; Locke 2007).
Phenomenon-driven studies tend to take the qualitative approach (Welch et
al. 2011). It is appropriate in this study of Shinise firms given its
acknowledged suitability in investigations of extreme and unique phenomena
that have not been studied in depth (Eisenhardt 1989; Stake 1995). There are
ample studies of longevity in Shinise firms in Japanese contexts, but
systematic data analysis and robust theorization are lacking in the literature.
Thus, given rich qualitative data addressing ‘how’, ‘who’, and ‘why’ questions
it should be possible to arrive at a holistic understanding of this complex
phenomenon in Shinise firms (Eisenhardt 1989). Moreover, the choice of
qualitative research is appropriate given the alternative theoretical lenses
chosen. As discussed earlier, routine practice theory, theories of organizational
culture (from an interpretivist perspective) and identity (from a socialconstructivist perspective) all adopt the qualitative approach.
Although the overall dissertation is based on inductive theory building, each
of the research articles included in it represents a distinct approach in the
domain of qualitative research, depending on the sub-question and the
theoretical lens. Grounded theory building and a single-case ethnographic
60
approach (Glaser & Strauss 1967; Locke 2001) are combined in Article 1 in
order to ensure detail and richness in the investigation.
Article 2 is based on a multiple case study combined with historical data
analysis. This was chosen so as to explain the temporal sequence of events in a
retrospective manner, and in interpreting the history to make a theoretical
contribution (Moore & Reid 2008; Pattigrew 1979).
A multiple case study was combined with a social-constructivist approach
in Article 3 so as to highlight the informants’ and the researcher’s roles in the
production, construction and interpretation of meaning and knowledge (Stake
1995). I considered this to be necessary given the theoretical perspective
focusing on internal dynamism in the process of cultural change, and also the
longitudinal, retrospective nature of the empirical study in which the
informants were asked to recall past events or tell stories about past events
they had not witnessed. Data in longitudinal, retrospective research is
collected on only one “occasion”, during which information concerning an
earlier time is obtained. Hence, the strategy cannot be called “purely”
longitudinal (Goldstein 1979). However, retrospective research material was
used in combination with rather extensive archive data (Goldstein 1979;
Wright 2011), given that the extremely long history of these firms makes the
already difficult longitudinal approach impossible (Ito, Rose & Westney 2008).
Finally, the decision to conduct multiple case studies rather than a single
one (Articles 2 and 3) was made after serious consideration of the tradeoff
between the depth and breadth of the data (Welch et al. 2011). From both a
historical and a social-constructivist perspective, the preferred choice was a
single-case study, which provides in-depth understanding of the phenomenon
(Dyer & Wilkins 1991). On the theoretical level, however, multiple case
studies were preferable because of the need in both articles to achieve a deeper
understanding of the role of industrial cluster in the local community.
3.2 Research process
3.2.1 Conceptual research process
Before discussing the empirical research process I will briefly explain my
research process on the conceptual level. Conceptual research, which focuses
on description and explanation, has received less recognition as a research
method (in comparison with empirical research) in the wider body of literature
on organizations and management (Meredith 1992).
My conceptual-level research began at the end of 2009 with the
specification of my research topic and the preliminary collection of secondary
61
data. Having discovered the phenomenon of extreme longevity among Shinise
firms, I went through the existing literature on organizational longevity and
the Shinise phenomenon in both Western and Japanese management literature,
trying to find a useful research focus. On the basis of this initial literature
review I came to the conclusion that balancing stability and change might
enhance organizational longevity, which could serve as the basic assumption
in my dissertation. I proceeded to conduct a literature review of possible
theoretical trajectories that could help to clarify this basic assumption. The
initial alternative theoretical perspectives included the wider resource-based
view, the evolutionary theory of the firm, and wider cultural theories of the
firm. Later on, through iteration between the empirical data and the theory, the
theoretical lenses were refined to include routine practice theory, cultural
theories of the firm and organizational identity theory. This iteration between
the literature and the data lasted from early 2010 until almost the end of the
research process in mid-2014. Consequently, my dissertation integrates three
different theoretical approaches to describe a single phenomenon.
This type of theory building is known as ‘philosophical conceptualization’,
which is one of three types of conceptual models (the other two are conceptual
description, and taxonomies and typologies) (Meredith 1992). A conceptual
model is “a set of concepts, with or without propositions, used to represent or
describe (but not explain) an event, object, or process” (Meredith 1992, 5). As
the definition indicates, such models do not have as much explanatory power
as conceptual frameworks, the goals of which are to explain a phenomenon
through the relationships identified among the various elements (conceptual
induction), and further to provide guidelines for managers (conceptual
deduction) (Meredith 1992). Philosophical conceptualization is more
appropriate for the purpose of integrating distinct theories to describe and
represent the phenomenon of organizational longevity, however. More
advanced conceptual frameworks are developed in the research articles.
3.2.2 An overview of the data-collection process
Coinciding with the literature review, primary empirical data collection began
in late 2010 in Japan. Details of the three phases are given in the following
sub-sections. In brief, the first article was formulated in Phase 1, based on the
data collected thus far. Phase 2 continued the data-collection process, which
took place in early 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. The data collected during this phase
constitutes the empirical material on which the second and third articles are
based. The final set of data was collected during Phase 3 in Europe, in the city
of Bruges, Belgium, during early 2014. Table 5 below summarizes the process.
62
Table 5
The data-collection process
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Total
Interviews
15
47
13
75
Archival
material
11 documents
(plus
photographic
material)
106
documents
(plus
photographic
material)
3 weeks
20 documents
(plus
photographic
material)
137
documents
(plus
photographic
material)
17 weeks
Observation 12 weeks
period
2 weeks
Figure 1 illustrates the contextual setting of the study. Article 1 reports the
first and deepest ethnographic investigation that provided the initial empirical
and theoretical insights into the whole study. Articles 2 and 3 cover separate
industries in the same local context of Kyoto, Japan. The final data set,
representing the confectionary industry, was collected in the city of Bruges in
Belgium. Overall, the data was collected in multiple contexts. Having data
from different contextual settings allowed me to verify and substantiate the
findings reported in each research article. These findings are summarized in
Chapter 4, and validated by means of comparison among the different
industries and intra-national regional contexts. This type of analysis enhances
the potential for analytical (or theoretical) generalization of the findings. The
black arrows represent possible future research directions (discussed in section
5.4).
63
Article 1
Tokyo, Japan
Ethnography of a single
confectionary firm
Japanese local context
European local context
Article 3
Confectionary
firms
Confectionary
firms
Introduction
Introduction
Article 2
Sake-brewing
firms
Figure 1
Sake-brewing
firms
The contextual setting of the study
The intra-national region was chosen as the level of analysis because
previous studies on Shinise firms indicate that they tend to be concentrated in
local regions, rather than nationwide (Motoya 2004; Sone 2010; Teikoku Data
Bank 2009). The choice of cities that best suited the research question (i.e.
Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan and Bruges in Belgium) was based on the previous
literature (the Teikoku Data Bank 2009) and the researcher’s investigation
using an existing database (ORBIS).
3.2.3 Phase 1
I collected the first set of ethnographic data during my three-month stay in the
case company, working part-time. I decided on the Japanese context because
of the high number of Shinise firms, and on Tokyo as the local context
because it has the highest number of Shinise firms in Japan (Teikoku Data
Bank 2009; Tokyo Shotoku Research 2009). Other Shinise firms and officials
referred to the chosen case firm as exemplary, thus potentially yielding
findings that could be applicable to other Shinise firms.
64
The selection of the case company was based on theoretical sampling
(Miles & Huberman 1994), and the following three criteria were set:
 a company with more than 100 years of history;
 an immutable main field of business since its establishment; and
 the maintenance of ownership within one family.
Comprehensive data were obtained among managers and employees from
various ranks and departments and companies in the neighborhood, both
formally and informally. Triangulation of data sources is inherent in the
ethnographic approach, which combines data-collection methods such as
archives, interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation (Bloor &
Wood 2006). This is particularly suited to investigations of relatively understudied, new and distinct phenomena, as it enables exploration of complex,
culturally embedded behavior, interactions, and artifacts from an insider’s
perspective (Bloor & Wood 2006; Moore 2011).
Semi-structured and un-structured interviews constituted the primary data
source. The semi-structured interviews followed the themes in the interview
guide, the content of which changed during the course of the investigation in
the firm: different guides were used with different people in the organization.
Appendix 1 gives an example of an interview guide I used in the final
interview I conducted with the president of the firm (the empirical data from
this interview reflectes to Article 1). The transcriptions of the semi-structured
and un-structured interviews as well as my own observations were
documented daily in my ethnographic field diary, in both structured and
unstructured formats.
3.2.4 Phase 2
I chose the city of Kyoto as the research site for the second phase of data
collection: according to the Teikoku Data Bank (2014), Kyoto is the city with
the highest proportion of Shinise firms in Japan (4% of all firms in Kyoto).
Although Tokyo has more absolute numbers of Shinise firms than Kyoto,
according to research reported in the Teikoku Data Bank (2009) the local
concentration, and thus local industrial clustering, are more evident in Kyoto.
Sake brewing was chosen as one industrial context because it has a longer
history than all other industries in Kyoto. Kyoto also has a high number of
Japanese-style confectionary (Wagashi) firms. I chose the Japanese
confectionary and sake-brewing industries because, first, the manufacturing
sector has more companies with a long history than the service sector, and
second, within the manufacturing sector, food and beverage production is a
field with many Shinise firms regardless of the nation and the region.
65
As in phase 1 of the data collection, the selection of case companies relied
on theoretical and snowball sampling (Miles & Huberman 1994), and the same
three criteria were applied. As a result, I gained access to six sake-brewing
firms and seven Japanese-style confectionary firms.
I began by collecting on-line and published secondary materials that
explained the social and economic history and the current state of sake
brewing and confectionary production in Kyoto. Reflecting the research
methodology used by business historians and in qualitative, multiple case
studies, I obtained my data from multiple in-depth interviews, rich archive
materials and my own observational field notes. (Jick 1979; Moore & Reid
2008; Pattigrew 1979; Van de Ven & Huber 1992) In addition, in order to
obtain a holistic understanding of the longevity of the case firms from the
perspective of the local community I collected data from representatives of
local institutions and citizens.
In terms of content, the second phase of the data collection was based on
the theoretical and empirical understandings gained from the first phase. For
example, much of the data collected during the first phase related to the
critical role of the corporate and local culture of Shinise firms, represented in
constructs such as the firm’s purpose and values, identity, behavior guided by
the firm’s values, and strategic goals and the behavior guided by them. As a
result, the interview guide in this phase contained large number of questions
related to organizational and local cultural perspectives (see Appendix 2: the
empirical data from this interview is reflected in Articles 2 and 3).
3.2.5 Phase 3
Having collected the data from Kyoto, I began to consider a potential
comparative study in a specific Western local community. According to
previous studies, significant proportions of Shinise firms operate in European
countries. Having conducted a preliminary investigation via the ORBIS
database I estimated that countries such as France (0.62% of all the firms in
the country), Switzerland (0.52%), Germany (0.45%), The Netherlands
(0.38%), Ireland (0.32%), The United Kingdom (0.13%) and Belgium (0.11%)
had relatively many companies with over 100 years of history.
Among these countries, bearing in mind potential comparison with Kyoto’s
confectionary industry, I chose Belgium. Belgium is interesting in the present
context because of its rich history and heritage of chocolate production that
dates back to the 17th century. It began to import raw cocoa from its colony
The Belgian Congo. This led to the development of the Belgian chocolate
industry, which became world famous following the invention of the praline, a
66
chocolate shell with a soft filling. The inventor, Jean Neuhaus, is often
referred to as Belgium's most famous chocolatier (Neuhaus, homepage 2015).
In 2012 there were approximately 400 enterprises in cocoa, chocolate and
sugar-confectionery manufacturing in Belgium, and the sector continues to
grow (Euromonitor International 2015; Statista 2015).
The city of Bruges in particular caught my attention. It was one of the
largest economic centers in Western Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, its
last high point being in the 15th century. Its blossoming was attributable in
part to its location: situated halfway between Northern and Southern Europe, it
was a commercial hub. The first stock exchange was in Bruges, for example.
Practitioners in every trade belonged to a guild, a control body that regulated
the work of its members and set quality standards. Some of the guilds are still
functional (Jacques Martin, Ferry, Casterman 2011). The Bruges archives refer
to chocolate production in Bruges at the end of the 17th century, and several
people started to make hand-made chocolate and chocolate products between
1840 and 1865 (Choco-story 2011). According to the manager of the Chocostory museum (2014), there are currently 50–60 chocolate shops in Bruges
(this number is changing), which is the biggest concentration in the world in
proportion to the population.
As with the data collection conducted in Japan, I collected secondary
materials first. The primary data were collected between January and May in
2014. One problem I faced in attempting to gain access to Belgian Shinise
firms was that many companies with more than 100 years of history were no
longer family businesses. According to the manager of the Choco-story
museum (2014), there were large chocolate companies in the 19th century, but
many of them faced acquisitions both domestically and internationally.
Consequently, I decided to focus on local, small-sized firms that were still
under family ownership. The majority of the 50–60 local firms in Bruges have
been in existence for less than 60 years, and I could find only a few that were
over 60 years old. The oldest firm had been in existence for 85 years. I chose
to study firms with more than 60 years of history, which were family
businesses, situated in the city of Bruges. These firms did not meet the 100years criterion, and thus cannot be considered Shinise firms. Nevertheless, the
data help to verify and confirm the findings on the Shinise phenomenon in
Kyoto. Whereas the study settings in Kyoto and Bruges are similar in that they
are both industrial clusters of traditional confectionary manufacturers, and the
focal selected case companies are family businesses that have had the same
product lines since their establishment, the striking difference is that the firms
in Kyoto have longer histories. Hence, the two sets of empirical findings
should be consistent in some respects, and differ in others, specifically with
regard to the key dimension – the history of the focal firms. In this sense, the
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data from Bruges is valuable in terms of controlling for the similarities. This
comparative analysis is discussed in Chapter 4. Table 6 below lists the key
characteristics of the two case firms and the nature and amount of data
collected from each one.
Table 6
The case companies in Bruges
Firm
Size (number of
employees)
History
Ownership
Jan De Clerck
Chocolaterie –
Confiserie
Approximately five
Founded in 1929
Family ownership for
three generations
Internal document (1)
Archival data
Number of interviews One (the CEO)
Observation
Visiting the store and
tasting the products
Spegelaere Chocolatier
Approximately five
Founded in 1954
Family ownership for two
generations
None
Two (the CEO and his
wife)
Visiting the store, and
tasting the products
As I did in Kyoto, I collected data from representatives of local institutions
and citizens. Table 7 summarizes the nature of these data. I also interviewed
representatives of firms with less than 60 years of history in order to capture
the dynamism of the local community as a whole. Moreover, in order to
compensate for the fact that the two case firms in Bruges did not meet the
Shinise criterion of having been in existence for 100 years, I collected data
from a firm with one-hundred-plus years of history operating in another
industry and located in Bruges.
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Table 7
Data collected from the local community in Bruges
Informant
Choco-story
museum
Center of Tourism
in Bruges
Interviews
One (with the
manager)
Two (with tourist
guides)
Archival material
Leaflets (5)
Book (1)
Documents (3)
Observation
Visiting the
museum
None
Handmade in
Brugge
Historium museum
One (with the
manager)
None
Homepage
None
Visiting the
museum
Bruges Guild of
Chocolatiers
One (with the
leader)
Brochure (1)
Books (2)
Numerous
photographs
Homepages (2)
A Shinise
embroidery firm
(with more than
110 years of
history)
Other local
chocolatiers with
shorter histories:
One (with the
CEO)
Homepage
Documents (1)
None
Two (with the
CEO and the
CEO’s daughter
Homepage
(A) Firm with 17
years of history
(B) Firm with 28
years of history
Visiting the shop,
product tasting in
the café, and
purchasing
chocolates
One (with the
CEO)
None
(C) Firm with 10
years of history
One (with the
CEO)
Homepage
(D) Firm with 23
years of history
One (with the
wife of the CEO)
Homepage
Representatives of
local shop
employees
Others
Five (with local
shop employees)
None
Visiting the shop
and purchasing
products
Visiting the shop
and purchasing
products
Visiting the shop
and purchasing
products
None
None
Online articles
(10)
None
None
Finally, in terms of content the data collection in the third phase was based
on the findings from the second. For instance, although many of the interview
69
questions were taken from the guide used in the second phase, organizational
identity was added (see the interview guide in Appendix 3).
3.3 Data analysis
3.3.1 Inductive theory building (Article 1)
The data analysis began in late 2010, almost concurrently with the data
collection. Given the phenomenon-driven nature of the study, data-analysis
methods typical of grounded theory building and ethnographic research were
implemented (Glaser & Strauss 1967; Locke 2001). The process involved
merging all the data, constructing narratives, openly coding the narratives
using NVivo 9.0 software (Locke 2001), grouping the data into first-, second-,
and third-order codes and themes (Creed DeJordy & Lok, 2010; Strauss &
Corbin 1998), and interpreting the codes against the existing literature. It was
particularly useful to have three researchers coding the data and comparing the
results. The efforts of all three co-authors resulted in highly reliable and robust
data analysis (cf. Yin 2003).
The most challenging aspect of the analysis was the final phase of
comparing the emergent codes and themes with the existing literature, and
trying to find a novel theoretical contribution. Iteration among the various
theoretical approaches such as dynamic capabilities, evolutionary economics,
and routine practice theory finally produced a relevant fit with routine practice
theory. More than a mere fit was required, however, given the need to identify
a research gap in the literature following the data analysis. This was very
difficult because of the absence of an initial theoretical framework. Hence, the
inductive theory building turned out to be highly exploratory, involving
massive data collection and analysis, and complex methodology. All in all, the
three researchers were engaged in the process of iteration between data and
theory for more than two years.
3.3.2 Historical analysis (Article 2)
In accordance with the second research sub-question, the data analysis for the
second article was more descriptive, namely historical analysis, meaning the
systematic analysis of primarily archival historical evidence. The most
common type of qualitative historical analysis involves coding and
categorizing histories into event time strings. One of its advantages is that it
allows complex inter-dependent relationships to be traced over time, and
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facilitates analysis of the long-run effects of particular choices or decisions
(Jones & Khanna 2006).
In line with these principles, the data-analysis process comprised four
stages. First, we wrote an historical description of the overall development of
Kyoto’s sake-brewing industry; second, we analyzed each case firm’s history
and developed chronological case histories; third, we conducted a cross-case
analysis (Eisenhardt 1989); and finally, we compared the empirical findings
with the theory of acculturation and identified some new theoretical insights.
One of the challenges of historical analysis (compared with conventional
analytical methods), given the descriptive nature of the data, is to find a novel
theoretical contribution (cf. Jones, Luuven & Broadberry 2012). In an effort to
deal with the problem we defined our fairly well established theoretical
approaches, namely organizational culture and local culture, before beginning
the data analysis, based on an extensive literature review and findings from the
first data-collection phase. Furthermore, complementing the archive materials,
we analyzed and coded extensive in-depth interviews with managers and
employees in the case firms, local institutional representatives and local
people, as well as our observational field notes. Thus, in combining the
historical analysis with case-study methodology (Eisenhardt 1989) we were
able to present findings that were both empirically and theoretically interesting.
3.3.3 The social-constructivist approach in multiple case studies (Article 3)
A different qualitative-analysis method, the constructivist approach was
adopted in the third article. The respective analytical methods reflect the
differences in the research questions. The overall objective in the first article
was to shed light on an unstudied new phenomenon, whereas in the second
article the aim was to enhance understanding of how the case firms and the
local community evolved in a vertical time flow. Finally, the focus in the third
article is on narrowing a theoretical gap in the literature using the Shinise
phenomenon as a context. Although the research question is less timesensitive, we considered the context ideal for studying the process of cultural
change because of the strong organizational culture rooted in the local
community with its own strong culture, thus constituting a highly integrated
context in which cultural change happens.
Given the extreme longevity of Shinise firms (and the necessarily
subjective remembering of the past by informants) and the theoretical gap in
question (the internal dynamism in processes of cultural change, which
involves relatively subjective data interpretation), the social-constructivist
approach seemed to be more relevant than conventional multiple-case-study
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methodology. The focus of the data analysis in the social-constructivist
tradition is on making sense of the textual material in a subjective manner
(Weick 2005). In other words, I as a researcher produced and interpreted the
text (cf. Wright 2011). The analysis involved both categorization and
connection (Maxwell & Miller 2008).
As in all of the articles, the final phase of comparing the empirical findings
with the existing theory turned out to be critically important. In the case of the
third article the research gaps in the focal literature were rather clear, and
therefore the provision of novel theoretical insights was easier than in Articles
1 and 2. These new theoretical insights were presented in the form of ‘thick’
narratives, reflecting socially established codes and meaning structures
(Lincoln & Guba 1985; McGaughey 2004; Stake 1995). Consequently,
although they provided a rich understanding of the cases, generalizable
outcomes could not be claimed (Stake 1995).
3.4 Evaluation of the study
Reliability, validity and generalizability constitute the basic framework within
which to evaluate quantitative research in the social sciences and business
(Marschan-Pekkari & Welch 2004, 291). However, the same criteria are not
appropriate in the case of qualitative research given the different philosophical
standpoints and goals of the two methods (Eriksson & Kovalainen 2008).
Whereas the aim in quantitative research is typically to achieve
generalizability though the testing of hypotheses, qualitative research tends to
focus on theory building through the exploration, description and enhanced
understanding of complex phenomena. It has been suggested that the quality
of qualitative research should be evaluated against Lincoln and Guba’s (1985)
four trustworthiness criteria, which they developed to correspond with the
evaluation criteria of quantitative research. In the following I briefly discuss
each of the four criteria and evaluate my study accordingly.
First, “credibility” is similar to internal validity. Essentially, credibility
questions how well the findings of the study fit with the reality (Linclon &
Guba 1985). There are a variety of ways in which researchers can enhance
credibility: they should, for instance, use established research methodology;
make sure they are familiar with the cultural context of informants in advance
of entering the field; aim for triangulation with regard to informants, data
sources and investigators; maintain engagement throughout the process;
ensure informant trustworthiness by means of iterate questioning and member
checking, for example; provide a thick description of the phenomenon; and
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examine previous research findings to evaluate the accuracy of their own
(Linclon & Guba 1985; Shenton 2004).
I used established methodologies, and maintained credibility by using the
same data-collection method in different local contexts in the second and third
rounds. Given my half-Japanese and half-Finnish background I was familiar
with the cultural context, and I was fluent in the local language. Researcher,
data-source and informant triangulation characterized all the data-collection
phases. I maintained engagement in the first phase during my three months of
ethnographic research. Informant trustworthiness was ensured primarily by
means of informant and data-source triangulation. The archive material in
particular helped significantly in ensuring the credibility of historical events
that the informants either could not remember accurately, or had not witnessed
given the extreme longevity of the case firms. Archives facilitate the “‘tracing’
of events and people back in time (Mills & Mills 2011, 349)”, and the study of
“a range of factors that are beyond, but may be complementary to, the
techniques of observation and interviewing (Mills & Mills 2011, 349)”.
Finally, I produced a thick description of the phenomena and always evaluated
my findings in the light of previous research (cf. Eisenhardt 1989).
Second, “transferability” is similar to external validity and generalizability.
In quantitative terms this concerns the extent to which the findings of the
study can be applied to other contexts or populations. This criterion is
interpreted in a specific way in most qualitative studies, the purpose of which
is to enhance context-specific understanding of the phenomenon, and to
achieve analytical (or theoretical) generalization so as to fit the findings from
particular cases to the theory (Yin 2009). This type of generalization is
powerful in the sense that it can explain situated dynamics and enhance
understanding of other situations while being historically and contextually
grounded (Feldman & Orlikowski 2011).
With regard to my study, Shinise firms are interesting because they are
extreme cases among conventional firms due to their long history. There is
thus no point in generalizing the findings to a wider population of firms, and
the generalization should be on the theoretical level. Multiple cases from
multiple contexts were investigated in the second and third data-collection
rounds, a study design that allows a certain amount of ‘replication logic’
(Eisenhardt 1989), thereby fostering transferability of the empirical findings.
In addition, although generalizability does not have to be established in
qualitative studies, it is necessary to define the boundary conditions to ensure
transferability. This is discussed in detail in Chapter 5.
Third, “dependability” corresponds to reliability, which essentially means
in the positivist paradigm seeking to establish that the same results would be
obtained if the same study with same methods and context were repeated by
73
other researchers (Shenton 2004). In order to establish such dependability, or
consistency in the findings (Lincoln & Guba 1985) in qualitative studies it is
recommended that details of the research approach, and the data collection and
analysis are included in the research reports (Shenton 2004).
With a view to establishing dependability, I have described the research
strategy, and the data collection and analysis in detail in earlier sections.
Interview guides (see the appendices for some example) were used so that
same study could be repeated. Although the interviews in the first datacollection phase were not audio-recorded (it may be difficult in the collection
of ethnographic data to record conversations that take place daily on an
informal basis), those on the second and third phases were. This helped to
establish some degree of dependability (cf. Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill
2007). I also documented the narratives on the day they were collected in
order to enhance dependability.
Finally, “conformability” is related to objectivity, the aim being to ensure
that the results obtained represent the objective reality as presented by the
informants and not the subjective interpretations of the researcher (Shenton
2004). Although this aspect is important, the purpose in many qualitative
studies is not necessarily to achieve objectivity, but to include subjective
interpretations of the researcher to some extent (Stake 1995). This applies in
particular to the social-constructivist approach to case studies, in which the
subjects ascribe meaning to their own behavior, and researchers are part of the
world they study (Maréchal 2010).
Although the social-constructivist approach “allows” objectivity to be
ignored, it may result in problems such as “the problematic status of empirical
data and delimitation of phenomena; the problematic status of the researcher
resulting from subject-object interdependency or inbetweenness;
methodological relativism; the emergence and contingency of research design;
and problematic ethics of result evaluation” (Maréchal 2010, 224). In order to
avoid these potential problems the social constructivist needs primarily to
decide on the following points: “a. how much to participate personally in the
activity of the case; b. how much to pose as expert, how much comprehension
to travel; c. whether to be neutral observer or evaluative, critical analyst; d.
how much to serve the needs of anticipated readers; e. how much to provide
interpretations about the case; f. how much to advance a position; g. whether
or not to tell it as a story” (Stake 1995, 103). In other words, the role of the
researcher has to be made clear.
My role as a researcher during the first data-collection phase was that of a
participant observer (Eriksson & Kovalainen 2008). Hence, I was involved in
the activities of the case firm at the same time as observing and evaluating
them. I was not a participant in the second and third phases, merely observing
74
and evaluating activities and events in the case firms and the local community.
The reports of my findings were primarily based on information obtained by
the informants, but I cannot deny that my own interpretations of my
observations are included. Repeated data and researcher triangulation helped
to reduce researcher bias and the potential drawbacks of allowing subjectivity
(cf. Lincoln & Guba, 1985) in most phases of the data collection and analysis,
with the exception of the results reported in Article 3, of which I am the sole
author. Finally, efforts were made to ensure that the chain of evidence – from
the data collection and analysis to the findings, discussion and conclusion – is
well documented for the readers (Yin 2009).
75
4 THE EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
The purpose of this chapter is to present the empirical findings from the three
phases of data collection, and the data analyses conducted for each research
article. The first section summarizes the findings reported in the three research
articles, respectively. Article 1 relates to the first research sub-question: How
are stability and change achieved in a Shinise firm (from the perspective of
routine practice theory)? Article 2 addresses the second sub-question: How
and why can Shinise firms achieve long-term survival despite environmental
turbulence (from the perspective of theories of culture)? Article 3 focuses on
the third sub-question: How does the micro-process of cultural change happen
in a cross-level context (from the perspectives of the theories of culture and
organizational identity)?
The focus in the second section is on transferability and analytical
generalization with regard to the main findings. I compare the results relating
to Kyoto’s confectionary and sake industries (cross-industry comparison), and
those concerning the confectionary business in Kyoto and Bruges (crossregional comparison). The aim is to confirm and validate the three sets of
findings from a wider, multi-context perspective.
Finally, I synthesize the empirical findings in the light of the overall
research question addressed in this dissertation: How have Shinise firms
achieved longevity by balancing stability and change?
4.1 The findings reported in the three articles
4.1.1 Article 1 (Sasaki et al. 2015)
The findings fall into three categories as a result of grounded theory building:
continuity in the Shinise firm, top-down changes, and bottom-up changes.
Continuity was evident in the companies’ philosophies and mottos, their
willingness to exist indefinitely, their recruitment and human resource
management policies, and their established relationships with employees and
other key stakeholders. These purposes, values and identities were reflected in
behaviors that convey the continuity. Examples of such behaviors include
ceremonies, rituals, signs and actions reflecting company values, the
maintenance of ownership and management within the family, and kodawari
76
(i.e. particular things that are unique to the company, and have been resolutely
protected) with regard to raw materials, products and production processes.
Top-down changes in the case firm concerned the way in which strategic
goals were formed and implemented by top management. Strategic goals and
visions concerning profit and productivity (e.g. the hygiene project, the
establishment of new distribution channels and supplier consolidation, and
diversification and the identification of new markets) were communicated and
implemented by means of engaging top managers in discussions about what
needed to/could be changed, and building organization-wide incremental
support. An interesting aspect of these top-down changes was the existence of
a dialectic process in which the major changes mentioned above were
associated with the founder’s words and philosophies. Thus, the change
elements were always balanced with the constancy elements.
Bottom-up changes resulted from the initiatives of empowered employees,
who shared ideas and renewed activities collectively. The role of the craftsmen
was particularly powerful on account of the senior-junior social classification
of employees in the organization. The nature of these changes was
evolutionary, meaning that they tended to be incremental and eventually led to
large revolutionary changes. Examples include kaizen activities and the
instance of the tree of waste.
In our theory-building effort we re-constructed these three phenomena as
follows: continuity as ‘Shinise tenacity’, top-down changes as ‘stability in
motion’, and bottom-up changes as ‘emergent change’. The aim was to
connect the data with the theory of routine practice. The central proposition of
this study is that each of these phenomena, and the interaction between them
explain stability and change in the Shinise firm, and provide insight into its
Eizoku management (i.e. how stability and change secure long-term survival).
In order to capture the concept of Eizoku management we considered the
three phenomena and their interaction on two theoretical levels: shared
organizational schemata (organization level) and organizational routines
(routine level) (cf. Rerup & Feldman 2011). Although the construct of
emergent change largely confirmed existing routine practice theory (Feldman
2000; Dionysiou & Tsoukas 2013), stability in motion and, in particular,
Shinise tenacity not only extended the current reach of the theory, but also
gave new insights on aspects such as intrinsic finality, core values,
organizational identity and an action frame of reference. On the organizational
level of interpretive schemata, Shinise tenacity (and the mechanism of stability
in motion) safe-guarded certain organizational aspects against change,
providing the limits for emergent change. Each of these phenomena and their
interaction mechanisms shed light on how stability and change were achieved
in a Shinise firm from the perspective of routine practice theory.
77
4.1.2 Article 2 (Sasaki & Sone 2015)
The evolution of the sake-brewing firms was categorized into four
chronological phases based on a historical analysis of Kyoto’s sake brewing
industry as a whole and of the five case firms. Phase 1, from the founding of
the firms until the Toba-Fushimi War of 1868, covers the founding context.
Common to all five case firms was that they eventually converged in Fushimi
to produce sake. From a cultural perspective this period was one of
‘assimilation’ of the organizational cultures by the local culture. At the time,
the Imperial Family (as a symbol of longevity, continuity and prosperity in
Japan and Kyoto) and nobles still lived in Kyoto, attracting the best craftsman
from all fields who would provide them with the best products. The founding
fathers of the case firms formed their respective corporate cultures during this
period.
Phase 2, from Meiji-Isin (1868) until the beginning of the Second World
War, and especially the Pacific War (1941), began with the first threatening
event for the case firms: the Toba-Fushimi War (a Japanese civil war that
broke out in the city of Kyoto). Fushimi sake brewers had to cope with
dramatic societal changes and increased the value of their firms by changing
product lines, adopting modern business structures, introducing innovations,
and expanding market shares. Interestingly, these firms decided to stay in the
founding location and retain their established human relationships despite the
fact that the Imperial Family and nobles had moved to Tokyo. They took the
lead in reviving the cultural value of Kyoto and the reputation of Fushimi
nationwide. Hence, from the cultural perspective this period was one of
‘reversed dominion’ by the organizational cultures of these firms.
Phase 3, from the beginning of the Second World War, especially the
Pacific War (1941), until the oil crisis and the peak in domestic demand for
Japanese sake (1975), was a particularly trying time for most of the case firms,
largely because it was difficult to procure rice, from which Japanese sake is
made. However, the so-called post-war Japanese economic miracle heralded
the golden age of sake brewers, too. Whereas the case firms gained market
share by means of catchy TV commercials, unique product innovations, and
effectively using the ‘made in Kyoto’ brand, they resisted excess growth by
upholding the corporate values of thrift and humility, and due to the limited
market size of Kyoto in comparison with those of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.
The prosperity they achieved during this period was partly attributable to their
good use of the Kyoto brand name. Thus, they also enhanced the cultural
value of Kyoto as a whole. In cultural terms this period was characterized as
‘enhancing the value of the local culture’.
78
During phase 4 (from 1976 to date), although the Japanese economy as a
whole faced recession after the oil crisis, other alcoholic drinks became
extremely popular in the domestic market. The case firms coped with the
problem by internationalizing and cooperating with local authorities to
promote their products. Nowadays they actively inform and influence public
opinion to reflect on and value Kyoto’s traditional culture. At the same time,
local politicians are keen on helping the case firms because of their longlasting cultural values, and their role in attracting and boosting tourism,
protecting local employment, and providing a basis on which younger firms
can prosper. Thus, from the cultural perspective this phase is characterized as
one of ‘reciprocal integration’, reflecting the reciprocal cooperation between
the firms and the local community.
Our findings imply that although the Shinise firms’ organizational culture
and the local culture retain elements of continuity, their relative strengths and
roles have fundamentally changed. Thus, this historical analysis of the sake
brewing industry and the theoretical insights into the interaction between the
organizational and local cultures show how and why Shinise firms achieve
long-term survival despite environmental turbulence from the perspective of
theories of culture.
4.1.3 Article 3 (Sasaki 2015)
The focus in Article 3 is on micro-processes of cultural change. Four aspects
are reported. The first concerns the ‘firm’s culture and identity, and its
relationship with the local community’. Values characterizing the
organizational culture included honesty, putting the customer first, thinking
about continuation rather than profit, not expanding the business, maintaining
a strong identity rooted in craftsmanship and high product quality, maintaining
the family business, and pride associated with all of these. Whereas the values
and identities were maintained through long-term trust relationships associated
with family ownership (such as successor and craftsmanship training),
continuity and change were achieved through the introduction of modern
technologies.
The firms engaged in sensegiving in the local community by being actively
involved in local activities and keeping local people informed about their
traditions and culture. As a result, many local people felt proud of the Shinise
firms, and identified with them. This led to the development of a local
community with values that supported Shinise values.
The second aspect concerns the ‘local community’s culture and identity,
and its relationship with the Shinise firms’. The values of the local community
79
indicated an appreciation of continuity, the prioritizing of culture over profit,
and the valuing of both continuity and change. Its identities stemmed from its
pride in the Imperial Family and the nobility, and the traditions and history
associated with its many temples, shrines and natural resources.
Local politicians in Kyoto were particularly supportive of Shinise firms in
terms of sensegiving. They saw their role as creating a stage on which these
companies could prosper and be freed from the pressure to achieve economic
efficiency. In addition, the local community assumed the role of gatekeeper,
approving and selecting which firms would be ‘insiders’. As a result of this
active involvement the firms had a strong attachment to the local community,
identifying with it and its values, customs, and traditions.
On the theoretical level these first two sets of evidence indicate cross-level
processes of cultural change, characterized by four mutually applicable terms:
involvement, sensegiving, identification, and value adjustment.
Third, there were ‘instances smoothening the interactions in the local
community’. Local-community norms made the identification phase smoother.
For example, encouraging a focused niche-market strategy based on highquality products and long-term business relationships helped to avoid excess
competition among the firms.
Finally, ‘events external to the local community’ appeared to play a role.
Happenings in the Tokyo area, new trends in tourism and other external
factors influenced the identification phase of cross-level cultural change.
Consequently, the four cross-level processes shed light on the final research
sub-question: How does the micro-process of cultural change evolve in a
cross-level context (from the perspectives of theories of culture and
organizational identity).
4.2 Confirmation and validation of the empirical findings
4.2.1 Similarities and differences across industries
As shown in Figure 1, which illustrates the contextual setting of the study, the
research questions as well as the theoretical and empirical settings discussed in
Articles 2 and 3 were formulated based on the empirical findings reported in
Article 1. For example, reflecting the notion of Shinise tenacity, the analysis in
Articles 2 and 3 emphasize the organizational culture of Shinise firms.
Similarities in findings related to the firms’ purpose, values, identity and
behaviors are evidenced in all three articles. In a way, the single case was
expanded to a multiple-case study in the industry-level analysis. However,
only with in connection with Article 1 that one could not confidently say that
80
the findings reported in the three articles apply across industries. There is thus
a need for a more careful cross-industry comparison. The focus in this section
is on the findings reported in Articles 2 and 3. The aim is to raise the level of
analysis by comparing two distinct industries in the same local context.
Articles 2 and 3 are distinct in terms of temporal context. Article 2
documents the acculturation patterns (resulting from the acculturation process)
of the sake-brewing firms and the local cluster as a whole, based on the
differences in strength between the organizational cultures and the local
culture. The documentation is conducted chronologically, focusing on the
vertical flow of time. The focus in Article 3, on the other hand, is on the
internal dynamism and the process of change (the mechanism) between the
organizational cultures and the local culture, the assumption being that
‘integration’ (among the acculturation patterns) is happening at the present
time. Thus, the two articles analyze the same phenomenon (interaction
between the organizational and local cultures) from different angles,
complementing each other.
Before turning to the two industries it is necessary to compare the attributes
of the case firms. The sake-brewing firms ranged in size from 10 to 520
employees, and the confectionary firms from four to 200 employees. Thus,
although the former were generally larger, both sets of firms could be
categorized as small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In terms of history
the brewing firms ranged from approximately 120-380 years, and the
confectionary firms from approximately 130-325 years. Hence, on this
attribute, too, the two sets of firms are similar. On the question of ownership,
most of the sake brewers maintained a direct lineage of family ownership, as
opposed to approximately half of the confectionary firms.
Among the similarities in the firm-level attributes were, first, their
corporate philosophies. The confectionary firms emphasized values such as:
(1) balancing continuity and change, (2) not expanding the business, (3)
craftsmanship and highly specialized product quality, (4) honest business
activity and putting the customer first, (5) continuing the family business, (6)
thinking about continuation rather than profit, and (7) maintaining long-term
relationships with key stakeholders. The most frequently mentioned values in
the brewing firms were: (1) fostering harmony and happiness in society, (2)
ensuring employee wellbeing, (3) maintaining focused business lines, (4) not
focusing on short-term profit making, (4) producing high-quality products, and
(5) constantly innovating.
Thus, although there were slight differences in wording and emphasis (e.g.,
the brewing firms placed more emphasis on contributing to society at large
and safeguarding the well-being of their employees, whereas the confectionary
firms seemed to focus more on giving value to their direct customers; and the
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confectionary firms seemed to emphasize the importance of family ownership
more than the brewing firms), the above characteristics were not mutually
exclusive. It was therefore difficult to detect industry-level differences in
terms of values and corporate philosophies, and the slight differences could
have resulted from differences in the firm-level attributes.
Second, similar levels of effort were put into successor education in both
the sake-brewing and the confectionary firms. The case firms in the sakebrewing industry maintained a patriarchal system, regardless of size and the
level of modernization. It was common for grandparents or parents to hand
down corporate philosophies and values to the next generation. The general
rule under this system was that the oldest son of the family took over the
business, typically having worked outside of the firm for a certain period of
time, and then coming back. He was then required to work with his father for a
given period of time before being inaugurated as the new CEO. Internal
continuity not only in the family lineage but also in the organizational culture
was maintained throughout the generations through this patriarchal system.
The following two citations exemplify what the CEOs and managers of the
case firms said about it:
“When a firm is not a family business, each new CEO tries to bring their own
color, and thus the corporate culture differs in each generation. However, in
our case, the CEO is the same for about 30 years, so it is impossible to have
multi-culture in the firm.” (CEO of Yamamoto-Honke)
“In modern firms, the management changes every three or four years. These
managers think only in a three-to-four-year time horizon. This is
Americanized way of thinking centered only on numbers. In Shinise firms this
kind of management is admonished. It is against the way of thinking expressed
in the word “sampouyoshi” (A saying meaning not to seek high profit in the
short term but to believe that profit or loss depends on the gods, and to live for
the sake of the company’s stakeholders such as sellers, buyers and society as a
whole).” (Production and distribution managers of Kinshi Masamune)
The confectionary firms ensured succession in a similar way, as the wife of
the current CEO of one of the case firms stated:
“[…] My husband is the eldest son of the firm. He has a younger brother with
an age difference of seven years. There was extensive discrimination between
the two sons in the family, such as in the height of the food table (Japanese
ozen table), and in the order of taking a bath), so as to make it clear who is the
successor. My husband said that he never felt unwilling to take over the
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business because he had been educated into it since he was very small.” (Wife
of the CEO of firm E)
On the other hand, whereas the sake-brewing firms did not mention much
about craftsman education, the confectionary firms seemed to have more
established methods. According to a representative of firm E, traditional
systems of educating successors and craftsmen are still practiced today:
“In the past, the craftsman started his career by delivering and marketing the
firm’s products for two years altogether. After that he was allowed to enter the
real workplace. The next stage was to boil bean paste. This training continued
for three years. Altogether, it took about 10 years to fully train a craftsman.
However, the training period has now been shortened to five years. In the past,
the most recently qualified craftsmen used to sleep in one big room with many
others, when their career developed they shared a room for two people, and
were finally given a single room. They used to live on company premises until
they got married. They only had two days of holiday per month, and minimal
wages (the firm paid their living costs, as they lived there). After their training
period, some craftsmen established their own shop (i.e. bekke). In such cases,
with company approval the new firm normally takes the first part of the
company’s name, with its own name below it. Previously when the craftsmen
became independent, the company provided land, buildings and everything
necessary to open a business, which is why they did not have a salary when
they were apprentices.” (Wife of the CEO of firm E)
Finally, there were many similarities in how the two industries related to the
local community. For example, the firms in both were highly attached to the
local community (they were not considering moving their headquarters, for
example), shared its values, customs and traditions, and contributed to it in
one way or another (such as jointly organizing festivals, engaging in charity
and voluntary activities, educating local people about their traditions and
culture, boosting local employment, promoting Kyoto’s culture to the rest of
the country and the World, and paying taxes).
In conclusion of this brief comparison, there are many similarities in the
internal mechanisms of ensuring continuity (such as the unchanging corporate
philosophies and values since foundation, the mechanism of preserving family
ownership and craftsman training), and in how the firms relate to the local
community. There were differences in emphasis in aspects of the corporate
philosophies and values, and craftsman training, but they were minor. It could
therefore be concluded that the empirical findings reported in Articles 2 and 3
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are not industry-specific, and that many of the firm-level attributes of Shinise
firms are transferable to other traditional industries.
4.2.2 Similarities and differences across local regions
The cross-industry comparison described in the previous section was restricted
to the local community of Kyoto, and does not in itself imply that the
empirical findings could travel across differing local contexts. The comparison
in this section is therefore between the findings reported in Article 3 and the
data from Bruges, Belgium. The regions of Kyoto and Bruges are similar in
the sense that they are both intense industrial clusters of traditional
confectionary industries, and both cities have a long and rich history as
cultural and business centers.
However, closer scrutiny of the firms in the industrial cluster reveals that
the ones in Bruges with more than 100 years of history are no longer family
businesses, having faced acquisitions both domestically and internationally in
the 19th century. Thus, as explained in the methods section, I focused my
analysis on family firms even though they have shorter histories: between 10
and 85 years among the case firms in Bruges as opposed to 130-325 years in
Kyoto. Strictly according to the definition, these family firms do not represent
the Shinise phenomenon. However, the data help to verify and confirm the
findings from Kyoto in that, although the two local regions have much in
common, the two industries seem to have distinct path dependency in their
historical development: Kyoto’s confectionary industry seems to have
achieved much more prolonged continuity (path dependency) than the
chocolate industry in Bruges. Consequently, the empirical data should reveal
distinct differences.
In terms of firm size, the case firms from Kyoto have between four and 200
employees, whereas those from Bruges employ fewer than 10 people. Thus,
the empirical comparison here focuses only on the three Shinise firms from
Kyoto with just a few employees.
The empirical findings reveal various similarities and differences between
the two clusters. The similarities are in the firm-level attributes of values and
identities. Both sets of firms value aspects such as (1) an honest business
approach and a customer-first orientation, (2) thinking about continuation
rather than profit, (3) the cultivation of long-term trust relationships, (4)
achieving a balance between continuity and change, (5) focusing on
craftsmanship and product quality, (6) the importance of family ownership,
and (7) successor education and (8) craftsman training together with
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traditional production methods. These turned out to be surprisingly similar in
the two cross-cultural industrial clusters.
On the other hand, there was a difference in emphasis with regard to the
involvement of the local firms in the activities of the local community. In
comparison with the case of Kyoto, the local firms in Bruges, for instance,
engaged in fewer sensegiving activities, and as a result the local community
did not identify with them strongly enough. For instance, they rarely organized
charity and voluntary activities, or local festivals, and did not spread the word
to local people about tradition and culture.
On the other hand, the local community in Bruges seemed to actively
demonstrate involvement with the firms in the form of sensegiving activities,
and the local firms seemed to identify with the local community. In particular,
the sensegiving role of the guilds turned out to be critically important. The
first guilds appeared in the 14th century. There used to be 12, each for a
different profession. The guild master had many disciples, which meant that
many skilled craftsmen used to gather in Bruges. The guilds facilitated
cooperative activities between the firms and helped to curb excess and
unnecessary competition in the local community. As the manager of the
Choco-story Museum put it:
“Indeed there have been conflicts between the chocolate firms, but the
formation of the guild has helped to make the firms cooperate more. Now they
work in the same direction, we have the common goal of making Bruges a
better city […] This does not happen in other cities in Belgium, where they
compete and are in conflict with each other.”
The involvement of local professional unions was much less prominent in
the Kyoto context, for example, and local politicians assumed an extensive
cooperative and sensegiving role in local firms.
The second difference concerned the acceptance and adoption of localcommunity values: the firms in Bruges seemed to be less enthusiastic than
those in Kyoto, possibly due to anti-cultural behaviors in the local community.
Such behaviors included aggressive M&A activities that weakened local
embeddedness and strengthened the tendency towards separation or
marginalization between the organizational and local cultures. These
behaviors might have been needed due to the globally competitive nature of
the industry and the need to achieve large economies of scale. Therefore,
although Bruges as a city has a long and rich history as an international center
of culture and business, giving up family ownership, and engaging in domestic
or international M&As through mergers with multi-national chocolate firms
reduced the level of local embeddedness and cultural-value-enhancing
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activities among local industry as a whole. The following extract from the
interview with the CEO of a Shinise embroidery firm (with more than 110
years of history) operating in Bruges supports this finding. His opinion is
clear:
“Our central identity is the firm in Bruges. We are here or nowhere. We are
very proud of who we are and where we are, and the heritage of this place, so
we try to choose the strategy of staying in this location (for example by making
the quality of the product very high), rather than choosing a strategy to move
somewhere else. We are putting our shoes in the soil here (and not somewhere
in the stock exchange). I think it’s a good idea to stay away from the stock
exchange as far as you can. […] Our business goal is definitely long-term
survival. We plan business in 50 years and not in quarter terms. Most
businesses chase after short-term profit and are easily affected by the
volatility in stock prices. However, in my opinion, this is totally stupid. These
people do not know anything about business. Our goal is to pass the business
on to the next generation in as good a shape as possible.”
These empirical findings indicate that historical length matters to the firms
in the local industrial cluster. In other words, the historical length of the case
firms seems to have had an impact on today’s processes of cultural change and
local acculturation patterns. More specifically, one of the implications from
these findings is that a firm that lacks historical continuity might find it more
difficult to engage in sensegiving activities among the local community. Firms
embedded in a local community with a long and rich historical background
easily become assimilated. In the case of Bruges, the strong presence of guilds
has many positive aspects, but it may make local firms over-dependent on
them, inhibiting individual firms from actively ‘giving’ to the local
community. Another implication is that a lack of historical continuity due to
M&A activities makes such firms culturally separate or marginalized from the
local community. The identification of distinct differences in the two local
regions, with firms of varying historical length, confirms that the findings
reported in Article 3 cannot be applied to other industrial clusters of firms with
shorter histories.
4.3 Synthesis of the empirical findings
This section addresses the overall research question of the dissertation: How
have Shinise firms achieved longevity by balancing stability and change?
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Article 1 on the internal dynamics of Shinise firms reports a duality of
organizational continuity and change. Three types of mechanism, Shnise
tenacity, stability in motion, and emergent change secured a balance between
continuity and change in the firm. ‘Shinise tenacity’ is identified in particular
as a distinguishing feature with regard to conventional firms of average age: as
an organizational interpretive schema it provides intrinsic finality, core values,
organizational identity and an action frame of reference that guides the
balance between stability and change. Consequently, interaction among the
three types of mechanism enhances the potential for long-term survival in
these firms. In addition, it seems from the cross-industry comparison of the
similarities and differences that the Shinise firms in the sake-brewing and
confectionary industries are similar in terms of organizational culture, their
internal mechanisms for ensuring continuity, and in how they relate to the
local community. The findings reported in Article 1 (from a single-case study
of a confectionary firm) might therefore be applicable to other Shinise firms
operating in different traditional industries.
Taking account not only of the internal functions of Shinise firms, but also
of their longevity in relation to the external environment yielded further
insights. As reported in Articles 2 and 3, Shinise firms form a cluster in certain
intra-national regions, and become very committed to this location: there is a
need for elements of continuity in both the organizational and the local culture.
For example, the local culture in the case of Kyoto, comprising pride in once
having been the capital, the heritage of the Imperial Court and nobility, and
humility and thrift, survives to this day. As pointed out in Article 2, although
economic and political environmental change and adaptation may be
inevitable, the socio-cultural environment of the location should encompass
elements of continuity and stability that have aspects in common with the
firms’ organizational cultures.
The findings reported in Article 3 complement those discussed in Article 2
in pointing out that the maintenance of continuity in both cultures facilitates
interaction between the organizational and the local cultures. Stages in the
process of cross-level cultural change were identified as: involvement,
sensegiving, identification, and value adjustment. The change process is based
on the assumption that Shinise firms promote sensegiving in the local
community through active engagement, and that the local community supports
and provides sensegiving to the Shinise firms. The analysis of similarities and
differences across local regions confirmed this finding: the achievement of the
‘integration’ type of cross-level cultural interaction requires active
participation from the firms and the local institutions. Moreover, anti-cultural
behaviors engaged in by domestic as well as international M&As prevent
stability both internally (by abolishing family ownership) and externally (by
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inhibiting local embeddedness). It therefore seems that the historical length of
a firm has an impact on current processes of cultural change and acculturation
patterns.
Overall, these findings indicate that Shinise firms have achieved longevity
though the following three processes:
(1) The functioning of three mechanisms (Shinise tenacity, stability in
motion, and emergent change) to secure an internal balance between stability
and change, Shinise tenacity being especially important.
(2) The continuing stability of the socio-cultural environment of the local
community (although Shinise firms do adapt to changes in the economic and
political environments).
(3) Active interaction between the organizational and the local cultures,
with mutual sensegiving on the part of the Shinise firms and the local
community.
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5 CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Theoretical contribution of the study
Chapter 4 focuses on the empirical findings related to the overall research
question and the sub-questions. In this first section of the concluding chapter I
elaborate on these findings in order to highlight their theoretical contributions
to extant theories and the phenomenon of organizational longevity. The
theoretical contributions fall into two categories: those that support and extend
current theories, and those that give new insights.
5.1.1 Support and extension with regard to current theories
Several Japanese studies highlight the fact that Shinise firms have the ability
to balance stability and change (Hiramatsu 2004; Kamata 2006; Matsuoka and
Tsujita 2012; Murayama 2008; Nagasawa & Someya 2009; Samezawa 2004).
There are also a few studies in the Western management literature implying
that balancing stability and change could enhance organizational longevity
(Burchell & Kolb 2006; Burgelman & Grove 2007; Farjun 2010). My aim in
this section is to present the theoretical contributions that confirm the insights
discussed in these works, and at the same time to extend the reported findings.
I also highlight the theoretical contributions of this study to the three
alternative theoretical perspectives on corporate longevity.
First, in support of the current understanding, the way firms set their
ultimate goal (purpose) matters in terms of business longevity. Although the
view in most of the classic works promoting behavioral theory is that profit
maximization is the end goal of the firm, more recent streams of literature in
areas such as family businesses and CSR tend to reject this proposition and
instead emphasize non-economic goals. Research related to family businesses
indicates that such firms prioritize Family-Centered Non Economic (FCNE)
goals (Chrisman et al. 2012) and Socio-Emotional Wealth endowment (SEW)
aims, such as maintaining control and influence, ensuring the identification of
family members with the firm, their binding social ties and emotional
attachment, and strengthening family bonds through dynastic succession
(Cannamo et al. 2012, 1159) over profit making.
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The findings of my research on Shinise firms support the logic of putting
family values before profit, and reject the fundamental assumption in most
classic theories of the firm that the end goal is short-term profit maximization.
However, my findings also imply that intrinsic finality in Shinise firms goes
one step beyond profit making towards SEW. The firm’s continuing existence
is the final goal and the SEW of the controlling family is a means of achieving
it (profit making < controlling the family’s SEW < longevity). Sasaki et al.
(2015) refer to this type of final goal as Shinise tenacity, which constitutes the
basis of organizational stability and sets limits as to what can and cannot be
changed in the firm. The founder’s original ideals are still inherited and
practiced today in the form of organizational interpretive schemata, in which
shared assumptions, core values, and the frame of reference reflect Shinise
views on the organizational purpose, value set, identity, actions and routines.
These findings related to Shinise tenacity support and extend the view
expressed in the Japanese literature that the purpose of Shinise firms is to
ensure family succession (Yokozawa 2000; Yoshimura & Sone 2005) and the
preservation of certain values and corporate philosophies that date back to the
founder’s era (Hiramatsu 2004; Yokozawa 2000).
Second, my findings support the notion that the dynamism in culture does
affect business longevity. Sasaki & Sone (2015) emphasize the fact that both
internal continuity in organizational culture and external continuity in terms of
location are necessary conditions for the achievement of longevity. In
particular and as a further insight complementing current literature (De Geus
1997; Joarder et al. 2007), it seems that although economic and political
adaptation might be necessary for long-term survival, the socio-cultural
environment of the location should also encompass elements of continuity and
stability that reflect the firms’ organizational cultures.
Stability was considered necessary in each culture (viewed separately),
although it was also emphasized that its relative strength and role had changed
substantially in different phases of the company’s history. In other words,
stability (within each culture) and change (in relative strength) were both
needed and complemented to achieve organizational longevity. These findings
support and complement the extant literature suggesting that cross-level
interaction on different cultural levels (Kirkman, Lowe & Gibson 2006) could
enhance understanding of stability and change in culture (Berry 2008), and
that cultural dynamism could be studied through the concept of the strength of
the culture in question (Saffold 1988; Sasaki & Yoshikawa 2014; Schein
2004; Weick 2001).
Furthermore, Sasaki and Sone’s (2015) findings bring theoretical insights
into the literature on culture in treating intra-national regional culture as a
serious unit of analysis (Bacattini 1990; Howard-Grenville et al. 2013; Jones
91
et al. 2007; Kirkman et al. 2006; McSweeney 2009; Mizzau & Moutanari
2008; Oinas 1998; Pilon & DeBresson 2003; Saxenian 1994): specifically, it is
suggested that it is the interaction with the local rather than the national
culture that matters and fosters longevity. These results support and extend the
work of Murayama (2008) on the balance between traditional and high-tech
industry in the Kyoto area, and Yokozawa’s (2000) study highlighting the
need for the co-existence of stability and change in local communities
surrounding Shinise firms. These findings also add to the main argument in
the literature on organizational ambidexterity in broadening the unit and level
of analysis to include the management of tensions between competing
objectives on the organizational and local-community levels (Birkinshaw &
Gupta 2013; Burchell & Kolb 2006; Leana & Barry 2000).
Finally, my study confirms and builds on the notion that a firm’s history
does matter to today’s business: a comparison of similarities and differences
across local regions revealed that historical length does, indeed, have an
impact on current processes of cultural change and patterns of acculturation.
This finding has the potential to contribute to the literature on business history
(from a cultural perspective), in which there is “widespread acknowledgement
that history matters, but there is still a search for how it matters” (Jones &
Khanna 2006, 453). Relevant research questions could include: How and why
does history matter? What aspects of history matter? Such research could also
benefit the IB discipline in re-introducing the historical perspective in analyses
of current phenomena (Jones & Khanna 2006; Jones et al. 2012). Thus, I
propose in my dissertation that it is worthwhile focusing attention on the role
of history in business and Shinise firms both in academia and in practice.
5.1.2 New insights into current theories
Building on the theoretical implications discussed above, I would like to
discuss the contributions that significantly add new insights to existing
theories. On the basis of some core assumptions from the ambidexterity
approach (Birkinshaw & Gupta 2013) I came to an understanding of how
Shinise firms balance stability and change. As a result I not only realized what
affects organizational longevity, but also understood in detail on the
theoretical level the mechanism of balancing organizational stability and
change, and how that leads to organizational longevity. In other words, my
study went beyond identifying the ‘duality’ and ‘ambidexterity’ in the
organization in theorizing the micro-process through which organizations
achieve stability and change, thereby providing a novel and significant
contribution in terms of understanding organizational longevity through the
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three alternative theoretical lenses. Having described the empirical
mechanisms in Chapter 4, I will now highlight their theoretical contributions.
First, as already mentioned, the identification of Shinise tenacity turned out
to be the most significant theoretical contribution (Sasaki et al. 2015). Here I
would like to focus more on the mechanism. Shinise tenacity supports
organizational stability via sensegiving activity through the mechanism of
espoused and enacted organizational schemata. It influences how routines are
formed, and sets out what can and cannot be changed in the firm. The
ostensive aspects of routines are aligned with the espoused schemata, and the
performative aspects are aligned with the enacted schemata. Each set of
aspects influences the other through co-constitution (i.e. the recursive
relationship whereby two aspects create and recreate each other, which in turn,
constrain and enable each other). Thus, Shinise tenacity is a stabilizing
influence while at the same time defining the scope for change through
interdependent processes, thereby ensuring organizational stability. This
finding adds a new insight to routine practice theory: although the relationship
between routines and schemata has been established (Rerup & Feldman 2011),
the discussion thus far has not revealed how organizational schemata explain
organizational continuity (Sasaki et al. 2015).
Two further mechanisms secure stability and change in the Shinise firm:
stability in motion and emergent change. As a process, stability in motion
develops as follows: espoused schemata influence the ostensive aspects of
routines, and the ensuing changes alter the performative aspects, which in turn
alters the enacted schemata. This top-down mechanism provides a novel
alternative to Rerup and Feldman’s (2011) explanation of how processes
related to organizational schemata unfold and affect new routines that become
established. The process of emergent change, on the other hand, is bottom-up:
the performative aspects of routines alter the ostensive aspects and the enacted
schemata, which in turn alter the espoused schemata through processes of
mutual constitution (Feldman & Orlikowski 2011). All three mechanisms are
inter-related, and give an overall picture of how stability and change are
managed in the Shinise firm that extends and complements the work of others
on the links between organizational routines and organizational schemata
(Rerup & Feldman 2011). (Sasaki et al. 2015)
Second, Sasaki (2015) discusses the mechanism of cross-level cultural
dynamism from a theoretical perspective. Sasaki and Sone (2015) emphasize
the need for cultural dynamism between the organizational and the local
cultures if firms are to survive in the long term. Sasaki (2015) develops this
notion in identifying an internal dynamism in culture, separating aspects
related to values and behaviors. She describes these internal processes as
generative systems that develop through the interaction of values and practices,
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and particularly emphasizes the role of the behavioral and attitudinal aspects
as a mechanism facilitating cultural change (Sasaki 2015). This theoretical
insight makes a novel contribution to the extant literature on culture, which is
too fixed on values (Earley 2006; Javidan et al. 2006; Kondra & Hurst 2009).
Sasaki’s (2015) work also adds value to the existing literature on cultural
change in introducing the concept of organizational identification as a
mechanism or tool that facilitates explanation of the internal dynamism in the
values and behavioral aspects of culture. Therefore, two distinct theories
(culture and organizational identity) are used in combination to enhance
understanding of organizational stability and dynamism, despite their differing
foci and levels and units of analysis. This approach to cultural change added
new and novel insights to current theories (Christensen 1995; HowardGrenville et al. 2013; Ravasi & Schultz’s 2006). As a result, four phases were
identified in the micro-process of cross-level cultural change: involvement,
sensegiving, identification, and value adjustment. This mechanism is one of
the most significant theoretical contributions of my dissertation: as I explain in
Chapter 2, two distinct theories are combined in an attempt to explain how
Shinise firms balance stability and change.
5.2 Managerial implications
Profit maximization and rapid growth in the short term are emphasized as the
main purpose of the firm in today’s business world, whereas longevity is
seldom considered the primary objective (De Geus 1997). In my thesis I put
forward the view that the firm’s ultimate purpose may not always be profit
maximization. My findings indicate that Shinise tenacity provides a basis on
which to build organizational longevity. In Shinise firms, the founder’s
original ideal is still adhered to by organizational members who stubbornly
maintain their faith in Shinise tenacity, which continues to influence their
thoughts and actions. At the same time, it defines the scope for both top-down
and bottom-up change. Practitioners could use these findings as a basis on
which to establish a form of Shinise tenacity in developing mechanisms for
balancing stability and change.
How can Shinise tenacity be established? How can successors ensure that
the values established by the founder hold in perpetuity? One way would be to
enhance understanding of the current applicability and acceptability of ancient
values established by the founders of Shinise firms. As noted, they are
expressed in various motto-like phrases: building a society that values
harmony and happiness, fostering employee wellbeing, engaging in honest
business with a customer-first focus, and craftsmanship and highly specialized
94
product quality. These values are morally acceptable regardless of time and
place. Hence, firms intending to establish Shinise tenacity that lasts should
adopt values that are morally acceptable regardless of time. In other words, for
Shinise tenacity to function the principles that won the hearts of people 200
years ago should still have that power, meaning that firms should be moral and
that moral practices should be maintained. This insight has implications with
regard to present-day business ethics. Contemporary firms aiming at
organizational longevity should consider whether or not they think and act on
the corporate level in ways that employees and external stakeholders accept
and are proud of. Moreover, they should think 50 to 200 years ahead (which is
the time frame within which the CEOs of Shinise firms commonly plan) and
ask the same question: are they thinking and acting in ways that employees as
well as external stakeholders will accept and be proud of in 50 or 200 years. If
CEOs and employees can proudly answer in the affirmative, it may be that the
values and practices they adhere to could constitute a good basis on which to
establish and maintain Shinise tenacity.
It appears from the findings of my study as well as the theoretical insights
discussed in this dissertation that both the organizational and the local culture,
and how they interact affect the longevity of firms. Sasaki and Sone (2015)
and Sasaki (2015) highlight the benefits of the ‘integration’ effect of the two
levels of culture. This has significant practical implications for firms: they
should develop a strong organizational culture centered on Shinise tenacity;
ideally they should be located in a local community with a strong culture; and
they should actively engage in cultural interaction with the community. By the
same token, these results and findings from the cross-regional comparison
support the discouragement of anti-cultural behavior in firms: emphasizing
only change (and not stability), engaging in mergers and acquisitions, being
listed on publicly listed stock markets, expanding the business (including
internationalization), abandoning the home community for short-term profit
seeking, and exploiting the workforce or natural resources of the host
community (or country). According to my findings, such activities might
shorten the life of the business.
This is not to suggest, however, that firms intent on achieving longevity
should never expand their business. They should rather consider both their
home and host local communities in what could be called ‘localized
expansion’. This, as implied in my findings, could be one form of business
expansion (i.e. bringing about change) while maintaining stability. In other
words it is a question of promoting Shinise tenacity, a strong organizational
culture, family ownership, long-term employment and employee
empowerment, keeping HQ in the local community, contributing to it and
engaging in active cultural interaction; and focusing on high-quality products
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(kodawari), for example. The same way of thinking could be applied to global
expansion, which could be called ‘localized internationalization’. Firms
pursing the goal of longevity should stick to their home community (in other
words focus on cultural integration with the local community and support
local employment), while treating the host local community in a similar
manner and engaging in reciprocal interaction. This more humble form of
internationalization with its limits on market entry in terms of speed, scale and
scope might be a suitable strategy in the case of non-equity modes of
internationalization or Greenfield investment, and could foster organizational
longevity. Similarly, longevity as the primary objective of the firm (i.e.
Shinise tenacity) could bring numerous benefits beyond its confines. Such
firms contribute to the local community and safeguard local employment,
thereby bringing stability. As a group, such firms could promote national
stability and prosperity. Moreover, if this business philosophy became the
norm in international society, the implementation of ‘localized
internationalization’ strategies could foster stability and prosperity worldwide.
5.3 Limitations and boundary conditions
Before discussing future options in terms of Shinise research, I will consider
the limitations and boundary conditions of the present dissertation, beginning
with the limitations of the overall study. The methodological limitations are
extensively discussed in the final section of Chapter 3 (Research methodology). On the theoretical level it has to be admitted that all three theoretical
approaches and their combined use had only limited relevance as far as the
longevity of the case firms was concerned, and did not fully explain the reason.
There thus seems to be a need for much more extensive theoretical and
methodological triangulation in studies conducted by various scholars in
various contexts: research streams focusing on family business, social-capital
theory and entrepreneurship could shed light on the Shinise phenomenon, for
example. In my view, only when the field matures and some ‘general theories’
have been formulated will it be possible to explain the longevity of Shinise
firms with more confidence.
Next I would like to clarify the boundary conditions of the theories
developed in the dissertation. Defining boundary conditions for the research
findings is necessary in building robust theories (Whetten 1989). In the
Introduction I defined a Shinise firm as “a company that has survived for more
than a century, preserving the main field of business, and not selling the
ownership of the company to outsiders.” To comply with the first criterion the
industry must have existed for more than 100 years. Thus, most Shinise firms
96
in Japan are engaged in sake brewing and retail sales, manufacturing kimonos,
running Japanese-style hotels, traditional Japanese confectionary, wholesale
trading in wood and bamboo, and wood construction (Teikoku Data Bank
2009). Consequently, most of the products in question represent traditional
industries. Although there are some high-tech Shinise firms, such as Schümer
in Germany producing high-performance fabrics for more than 200 years
(www.schuemer.de), Fabbrica D’Armi Pietro Beretta in Italy producing
weapons for nearly 500 years (www.beretta.com), and R. Durtnell & Sons
Limited in the UK having been active in the building sector for over 400 years
(www.durtnell.co.uk)), it still seems easier to achieve longevity in traditional
industries. Thus, most Shinise firms exist and prosper in relatively stable
environments. The transferability of the firm-level findings to Shinise firms
across traditional industries is confirmed in the analysis of the empirical
findings in Chapter 4 (similarities and differences across industries).
Second, with reference to the second and third criteria, Shinise firms tend to
be family businesses that have not diversified. Given the goal of ensuring
survival rather than making large profits, growth is inevitably limited. It could
be argued that some degree of growth is necessary, even for these firms, to
maintain the standard of living of employees in line with the general economic
conditions: they appear to limit other aspects in the growth dimensions in
order to satisfy the general requirements for business survival. Hence, the
majority of Shinise firms are small or medium-sized.
Finally I turn to the relationship between the national culture and business
longevity. There is generally a strong emphasis on continuity in Japanese
firms, which is more exaggerated in Shinise firms: the 250-year plan of
Panasonic is world famous (Peng 2006). Indeed, Hofstede’s (1991) cultural
dimension could shed light on this strong long-term orientation, which he
identified in other East Asian countries such as China and South Korea.
However, these countries host few long-living Shinise firms (Teikoku Data
Bank 2009) – for many reasons including political considerations in the case
of China. Such firms are found in more significant numbers in European
countries such as Belgium, Germany, France and Great Britain with lower
scores on long-term orientation. It thus seems that the national tendency of
being long-term-oriented may have some influence, but cannot be said to be
directly associated with organizational longevity. Consequently, the national
culture should not be regarded as a boundary condition in this case.
On the other hand, I suggest on the basis of my dissertation that the unit of
cultural analysis that could relate to the Shinise phenomenon is the intranational region, such as industrial clusters or cities. Although the empirical
analysis reported in Chapter 4 comparing similarities and differences across
local regions gives no indication that the findings from Kyoto could be
97
transferable to Bruges (given the short histories of its firms), the Kyoto
findings might be applicable to other industrial clusters with long-living
Shinise firms in both Japan and Europe.
5.4 Suggestions for future research
5.4.1 Future research suggestions on organizational longevity from a
theoretical perspective
The focus of the discussion in this section is on possible future research
trajectories aimed at investigating Shinise firms from a theoretical perspective.
In Chapter 2, I introduced three alternative theoretical lenses through which to
explain how stability and change are balanced in Shinise firms. By comparing
the similarities, differences and inter-relationships I identified areas in which
cooperative work is more and less easily achieved. I develop this discussion
further in this section, and give more concrete suggestions for future research.
Figure 2 summarizes the theoretical discussion thus far. The figure is highly
complex, the purpose being to illustrate and summarize the inter-relationships
between the three theories rather than to create a new theoretical framework.
From left to right the figure illustrates the multi-level constructs of culture
theory, organizational identity, and routine practice theory.
The white arrows indicate what is already known in the literature (at least to
some extent). For example, the relationship between the organizational and the
national culture has been established in culture theory. The literature on
organizational identity documents its relationship with personal, localcommunity and national identity, and the external image, as well as the
relationship between organizational culture and organizational identity. Finally,
the white arrows illustrating the relationships among routines and
organizational interpretive schemata should be familiar to readers. The black
arrows show inter-relationships that are relatively unknown in the field. Below
I elaborate on this, pointing out what is lacking in current knowledge and
suggesting future research avenues to enhance understanding of longevity in
Shinise firms from these theoretical perspectives.
98
National
culture
Local community
identity
Local
culture
Organizational
culture
Values
National
identity
Organizational
identity
Bahviours
External
image
External
influence
Organizational interprative
schemata
Espoused
Enacted
Routines
Ostensive
Performative
Personal
identity
Figure 2
Current knowledge and knowledge gaps in the three streams of
literature
First, I consider future research directions with regard to constructs that
are internal to the organizational boundary (the large box in Figure 2). As
mentioned, the literature gives some insights into the relationship between
organizational culture and organizational identity. However, as suggested in
Sasaki (2015), a further step would be to use organizational identity as a
mechanism or tool to explain the internal dynamism among the values and
behavioral aspects of organizational culture, or even on other cultural levels.
On the assumption that research on interaction between organizational
routines and schemata enhances understanding of organizational stability and
change, it may be that dividing culture into values and behavioral aspects, and
using organizational identity as a connecting mechanism could bring new
theoretical insights regarding dynamism in culture. Future research could build
on the work of Sasaki (2015) in combining theories of culture and
organizational identity to investigate cultural stability and change from
99
different perspectives and methodological standpoints, on varying levels of
analysis and in other contexts.
Moreover, in connection with the discussion on the differences and interrelationships between the three theories, further theoretical effort should be
put into clarifying the relationship between organizational interactive
schemata and the other two concepts (organizational culture and
organizational identity). Although I have identified certain conceptual
similarities and differences, deeper conceptual analysis is required. One way
of overcoming this type of conceptual controversy would be to focus on the
similarities between the definitions, in other words on the empirical
phenomenon rather than the theory (Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville 2011),
and to view the controversy as resulting from the different perspectives on the
same phenomenon (Denison 1996). I would further encourage researchers to
conduct deeper conceptual investigation to advance the theories and enhance
understanding of longevity in Shinise firms. This type of research would
facilitate deeper discussion on the role of Shinise tenacity in organizational
survival. More focused theoretical investigation of Shinise tenacity would be
worthwhile given that it was one of the key findings of my research.
Finally, although scholars such as Fiol (1991), Kondra and Hurst (2009),
and Scott (1995) suggest that routines, organizational culture and
organizational identity interact in general, very little is known about how
routines relate to the higher-level constructs of organizational culture and
identity. It would be useful in future research to investigate these relationships
systematically, exploiting the theoretical insight into the relationship between
routines and organizational interpretive schemata. Such research should
enhance conceptual understanding of the relationship between the three
organization-level concepts mentioned above. One option would be to view
identity from a practice-based perspective - as “embedded in the social
practices of everyday work life” - rather than cognitively (Gioia et al. 2013,
137), to facilitate understanding of its interaction with organizational practices
such as routines. It would also be interesting to investigate the influence of
personal identity (which is an even lower-level concept) on routine formation
and change. Such efforts would be worthwhile given that routines represent
one of the core practice-based, internal mechanisms that enable Shinise firms
to achieve a balance between stability and change. On the understanding that
organizational culture and identity are also core contextual and cognitive
aspects in Shinise firms that are critical to their survival, the three dimensions
– practice, context and cognition – should ideally relate to each other, thereby
strengthening their explanatory power with regard to the Shinise phenomenon.
Second, I turn to future research options regarding constructs that are
external to the organizational boundary. Inherent in culture theory and
100
organizational-identity theory are super-organizational concepts that interact
with those on the organization level. In the field of culture, although there has
been research on the relationship between national and organizational culture,
the local culture has attracted less attention, and it is difficult to find studies
focusing on the relationship between local and national cultures. Future
studies could therefore investigate stability and change in cultures through the
multi-level interactions, thereby building on the work of Sasaki & Sone (2015)
and Sasaki (2015) in examining longevity in Shinise firms on the basis of
multi-level interaction between the organizational and the local cultures.
With regard to organizational identity, its relationship with both localcommunity and national-level identities is documented, and changes are
attributed to the multi-level interactions (Corley et al. 2006). Still, the
relationship between local and national identities is under-studied. It would
therefore be interesting to find out how these upper-level contextual cultures
and identities interact. Furthermore, although routine practice theory falls
within the organizational boundary, there appear to be no studies examining
the influence of external forces such as the local and national culture or
identity on the dynamism that shapes organizational interpretive schemata and
routines. This type of theoretical positioning in the upper-level concepts could
enhance understanding of longevity in Shinise firms from the external
perspective, and thereby of stable and changing aspects in the multi-level
contexts surrounding them.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that approaches to understanding or
explaining the Shinise phenomenon are not limited to the three sets of theories
used in this dissertation. Other potentially applicable theoretical perspectives
include research on stability and change from more collective and processual
approach, family businesses, social capital and entrepreneurship theory. While
North-American tradition has been very useful in theorizing organizational
stability and change, European tradition of approaching organizational
stability and change by critical, discourse and narrive semantic theoretical
standpoints might bring more deeprooted reasons for organizational longevity.
Some business historians seek to enhance understanding of organizational
longevity from the family-business perspective. This is logical given that some
scholars define the family firm as one that has maintained family ownership
for at least two generations (Liz 1995), implying that business longevity is one
of its key goals (Chrisman et al. 2012; Cannamo et al. 2012). One stream of
literature concentrates on external influences on the sustainability of family
firms, such as that of the local community, corporate social responsibility, and
issues related to social capital and networking (Besser 1999; Dyer &
Mortensen 2005; Frank, Lueger, Nosé & Suchy 2010; Miller & Besser 2000;
Pittino & Visintin 2011), whereas another investigates firm-specific attributes
101
affecting survival. The most heavily utilized theoretical perspectives include
the family’s interests and goals, succession issues, the organizational culture,
sibling relationships, agency and governance, and the role of emotions in
organizations and individual working lives (Cruz, Hamilton & Jack 2012;
Goel, Mazzola, Phan, Pieper, Zachary 2012; Fletcher, Melin & Gimeno 2012;
Mazzi 2011). Social-capital theory could also prove useful in studying Shinise
firms. According to the results of previous studies, Shinise firms maintain
long-term business relationship with suppliers, customers, and the local
community from generation to generation (Iwasaki & Kanda 1996; Motoya
2004; TenHaken & College 2008). This unique use of social capital could
have a significant effect on the ability to buffer environmental changes (Sone
2010). Finally, there is growing interest within the theoretical discussion on
entrepreneurship in investigating the influence of the characteristics of
individual entrepreneurs on business survival (Van Praag 2003; Casson 1993).
It would be worthwhile investigating the Shinise phenomenon from these
alternative theoretical perspectives.
5.4.2 Future research suggestions on organizational longevity from
contextual and methodological perspectives
This final section focuses on the potential for future research on the contextual
and methodological levels. Figure 1 in Chapter 3 (the contextual setting of the
study) shows future research trajectories (the black arrows) in addition to
illustrating the contextual setting of the dissertation. First, it would be
beneficial to collect further data in the context of the brewing industry in a
European intra-national regional context. The resulting comparison might
indicate different reasons for organizational survival, and make further
theoretical contributions. For instance, it would be interesting to compare how
the end goals of Japanese and Western Shinise brewing firms differ from those
of similar firms in Kyoto and another European local community, and thus to
enhance understanding of the role of Shinise tenacity in organizational
longevity.
Further, if both confectionary and sake-brewing data can be collected from
similar local European contexts, the results could be compared within the
same European context, and those findings compared with findings from the
Japanese context. This would enhance understanding of the secret of Shinise
longevity regardless of local context and industry.
Third, the present dissertation focuses solely on confectionary and sake
brewing. It would be interesting to compare results from other traditional
industries. A further interesting avenue would be to compare results from
102
high-tech clusters, because although few in number, there are Shinise firms
operating in high-tech industries. This context would be particularly suited to
studying mechanisms of balancing stability and change in Shinise firms.
Fourth, it would be worthwhile collecting data from bankrupt Shinise firms
and exploring the reasons for the bankruptcy, and further to make comparisons
with surviving firms. It would be highly interesting to know why Shinise firms
end up bankrupt in spite of their inherent advantages. However, collecting
reliable data from such firms may be highly complicated.
Finally, there is a need for further theory building by means of qualitative
research, given the still pre-mature stage of the Shinise phenomenon. When
the field matures a little it would be appropriate to carry out quantitative
research, although its execution might be hard: there should be enough Shinise
firms to allow statistical analysis if samples are taken from Japan, but it is
questionable whether enough samples can be collected in European or other
countries. One possible solution would be to collect quantitative data from
both Shinise and non-Shinise firms and to compare them.
103
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Interviews:
CEO of Firm D. Interviewed on 2.6.2013.
CEO of Yamamoto-Honke. Interviewed on 28.1.2013.
CEO of a Shinise firm from embroiderers industry with more than 110 years
of history in Brugge. Interviewed on 27.2.2014.
Manager from the Choco-story Museum. Interviewed on 28.2.2014.
Production and distribution managers of Kinshi Masamune. Interviewed on
4.2.2013.
Representative from Kyoto Prefectural Government. Interviewed on 7.2.2013.
Vice president of firm F. Interviewed on 13.2.2013.
Wife of the CEO of firm E. Interviewed on 12.2.2013.
119
APPENDECES
APPENDIX 1. ARTICLE 1: Final semi-structured interview guide with
the president of the firm.
Part 1
1. Why did you (the president) decide to take over as president of the
company?
2. What is the purpose of your company as a Shinise firm?
3. Do you have any plans to expand the company?
Part 2
4. What are the things that you changed and did not change after becoming
president?
5. How do you balance innovation and tradition?
6. What do you look for in a person when you decide to hire him/her?
Part 3
7. Could you tell me what conditions a normal company should fulfill to
become a Shinise company?
120
APPENDIX 2. ARTICLES 2 AND 3: Semi-structured interview guide
with the managers of the case firms.
Part 1: Characteristics of the organizational culture of Shinise firms
1. Please tell me about your firm’s philosophies, visions and values.
2. What is the purpose of your firm as a Shinise company?
3. How do you ensure that your employees share, think and act according
to your company values?
4. Thinking about your firm’s long history, what efforts have been made
to protect and pass on your organizational culture from generation to
generation?
Part 2: Characteristics of Kyoto’s culture
5. Why don’t you move your headquarters from Kyoto?
6. How has the fact that you have stayed in Kyoto from establishment
influenced your firm’s longevity?
7. On the historical level, what has your firm learned from Kyoto’s
specific culture (values, people’s way of thinking)?
8. On the other hand, how has your firm contributed to the development
of Kyoto’s culture?
9. Finally, thinking about your firm’s longevity, how do you believe your
organizational culture and Kyoto’s culture have achieved synergy?
121
APPENDIX 3. INTRODUCTION PART: Semi-structured interview
guide with the managers of the case firms from Belgium.
Part 1: Characteristics of the organizational culture of your firm
1. Please tell me about the critical events in your firm/local community
that affected your firm’s history, and how they were overcome?
(Including changes in product lines, ownership structure.)
2. Please tell me about your firm’s philosophies, visions and values (e.g.
the founder’s words, what was taught by your father/mother, family
tree).
3. What is your firm’s central identity? (Belgium’s chocolate firm)?
4. What do you value the most: your firm’s longevity, growth, or profit?
5. How do you ensure that your employees share, think and act according
to your company values?
6. Thinking about your firm’s long history, what efforts have you made to
protect and pass on your organizational culture from generation to
generation? (e.g. traditional production methods/spiritual way of
thinking)
7. Where is the target market of your firm? (Local
community/Europe/World?) And why?
Part 2: Characteristics of the Belgian culture
8. How has the fact that you have stayed in Belgium/Brussels/Bruges
from establishment influenced your firm’s longevity? (Who are the
main actors in the local community that enabled your firm to survive
(sensegivers)?)
9. On the historical level, what has your firm learned from the specific
culture in Belgium/Brussels/Bruges (values, people’s way of thinking,
origins of pride, connection with local institutions such as the Church)?
10. On the other hand, how has your firm contributed to the development
of culture and heritage in Belgium/Brussels/Bruges?
11. How do you deal with competition from new confectionary (chocolate)
firms? There are about 2,000 chocolate firms in Belgium: were there
conflicts in acculturation/communication?
12. What is the role of large, long-living chocolate firms in Belgium such
as Neuhaus, Callebaut Coted’or and Wittamer?
13. What is the role of the professional union(s) (e.g. the Union of
chocolate firms)?
122
14. Are there any effects of the federal state as an institutional setting
(political instability), and being the EU capital (melting pot of Europe)
on organizational survival and longevity? (Making institutions OR
adapting to them?)
123
PART 2 ARTICLES
125
ARTICLE 1
Sasaki, I – Zettinig, P. – Sandberg, B. (2015)
Who wants to live forever?
Rethinking organizational stability and change in a ‘Shinise’ company.
Manuscript submitted to Academy of Management Journal, now on 5th
revision round.
127
ARTICLE 2
Sasaki, I – Sone, H. (2015)
Cultural Approach to Understanding the Long-Term Survival of Firms Japanese Shinise Firms in the Sake Brewing Industry.
Business History, ahead-of-print, 1–17.
Printed with permission from Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Available at http://www.tandfonline.com/
DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2014.993618
129
ARTICLE 3
Sasaki, I (2015)
How does the micro-process of cultural change happen in a cross-level
context? Japanese Shinise firms in their local communities.
Conference proceedings from the conference of the European Group of
Organization Studies (EGOS), July 2–4, 2015, Athens, Greece.
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Management of major accidents
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Business process management capabilities
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Identity and multinational corporations
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